Eddie Howe makes 'dominant' Newcastle United claim after West Ham defeat

The Magpies had the opportunity to record a fourth straight win victory and move up to sixth in the Premier League table, however were condemned to defeat via goals from Tomas Soucek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

Soucek opened the scoring 10 minutes in from Emerson’s corner before Wan Bissaka added a second early in the second-half.

Howe says he was “pretty pleased” with his side’s performance for an hour but “didn’t enjoy” the final half-hour.

"I don't think anything takes me by surprise in the Premier League, we know every team has qualities,” Howe said. "We were the dominant team at half-time and the game would have been very different if we had equalised before the first half.

"I'm pretty pleased with the first 60 minutes albeit we're losing the game 2-0. We opened them up and had chances to score. Up to that point I was pretty pleased but the last 30 minutes I didn't enjoy. We tried a bit too hard to score. We'll rue that when we watch the game back.

“For both goals we know we made individual mistakes. It was disappointing from our perspective. Very uncharacteristic from us because we've defended well in recent weeks.

"At the end we had players out of position, so I didn't like the way we looked at the end. But up until that 60 minute mark I thought we were the dominant team.”

Assessing his side’s performance, West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui adde: "We are happy. I think that we played well. We played with one identity and we were able to overcome a very good team. They started well and it is always good to have more confidence.

“They had two chances and I think that in the second half we did well and deserved to win. I am happy for the players, for the team and for the fans. They will have to drive a lot of miles so we are happy for them. We look forward to the next challenge. We are happy but we have a lot of work to do. “