Callum Wilson piled more misery on West Ham, scoring a brace as Newcastle won 5-1 in London on Wednesday night.
The English forward opened the scoring at the London Stadium against the run of play. Following some early West Ham pressure, Wilson headed in an Allan Saint-Maximin cross to give the visitors an early lead.
Shortly after, Joelinton timed a run perfectly to latch onto Fabian Schar’s pass and make it 2-0.
Despite the deficit, the Hammers had been a real threat to Nick Pope’s goal throughout the first half. They finally got a reward for their efforts just before the break when Kurt Zouma headed in from a corner.
However, all of West Ham’s hard work was undone by a sloppy mistake. Nayef Aguerd lost possession just outside his own box, allowing Jacob Murphy to set up Callum Wilson for an easy finish.
David Moyes thus decided to ring the changes – making four substitutions at the hour mark. But even the introduction of attacking threats such as Danny Ings and Maxwell Cornet had minimal impact. Instead, Newcastle extended their advantage via yet another error.
Lukas Fabianski came out to deal with Bruno Guimaraes’ long ball – but made a complete hash of it. The keeper bobbled the ball into the path of Alexander Isak, who lobbed a shot over everyone to make it 4-1.
Joelinton then added a fifth to round off a memorable away trip for the Toon Army. This win sees Newcastle in third place as they challenge for UCL football. Meanwhile, the game provided further proof of how much Callum Wilson enjoys playing West Ham.
Callum Wilson: his spectacular goal record vs West Ham
Irons fans must be fed up with seeing the Englishman score against their club. In 13 matches against West Ham, Callum Wilson has recorded 12 goals. This makes the London side by far and away his favourite team to face. By comparison, against his next best opposition (Southampton), Wilson has only scored four times.
His first goals against the Hammers came as a hat-trick in the 2015/16 season. Back then, Callum Wilson played for Bournemouth; he would go on to score seven times against West Ham for the Cherries.
Wilson even scored in the reverse fixture this campaign. When the two sides played out a 1-1 draw at St James’ Park, the forward nabbed Newcastle’s goal.
His double last night helped the Magpies continue their push for the top four. In contrast, West Ham’s performance added further pressure on David Moyes.
Moyes on loss: “I might have walked out as well”
With minutes still left on the clock, West Ham fans streamed out of the London Stadium after a disappointing evening. When queried about this post-match, manager David Moyes sympathised with supporters.
“I might have walked out tonight as well,” he admitted, via The Guardian. “But sometimes when things aren’t going well you need everyone behind you. That’s when you stand up and be a true supporter. But I have no qualms with them leaving a result like that.”
The Scot added that his job was definitely not safe given West Ham’s precarious league position.
“As manager, you always have to front up,” said Moyes. “I’m a big boy, I’ve left jobs at other times in the past and if that happens I’ll have to go with it. But I really like my job here, I’ve enjoyed my time greatly.
“I’ve got no doubt they [the board] are behind me. I’m confident in the way they work and what they think. But if you’re a manager, and you lose badly like I did tonight, you’re always in jeopardy and I understand that.”
Moyes should remain in the dugout for at least the game against Fulham this weekend.
Featured image credit: Getty
