Jarrod Bowen makes 'perfect' St James' Park claim after West Ham win at Newcastle United

With Julen Lopetegui under pressure as West Ham boss and the Magpies on a three-game winning streak, everything pointed towards a home victory pre-match. However, it was the Hammers who came out on top.

The visitors took the lead in the 10th minute when Tomas Soucek headed home Emerson’s corner. A second goal arrived early in the second-half when Aaron Wan-Bissaka found the bottom left corner.

Eddie Howe’s side failed to score at St James’ Park for only the second time since May 2023. The clean sheet and West Ham’s ability to manage the 52,000 crowd is what pleased Bowen the most.

“I said we needed a performance before the game and I think we did that,” said Bowen. “Newcastle always score at home so to keep them to a clean sheet and score two goals, it is an atmosphere that you have to control and I think we did that perfectly.

"You always are playing to win the games. We know the quality we have and it was a beautiful ball and a beautiful header. Then it was down to us to get the second goal. If you sit on a goal here it can come and haunt you.

"That was more like the level of what it takes to play for this club. The desire and work rate from everyone. A clean sheet away at Newcastle is not an easy thing. We have a massive game on Saturday against Arsenal and we need to be consistently winning games on the bounce. This is a start tonight and we can take a lot from the game tonight."

The defeat saw Newcastle miss the chance to move up to sixth in the Premier League table. West Ham, meanwhile, climbed to 14th, three points behind Howe’s men. Next up for the Magpies is an away trip to Crystal Palace, who sit second bottom.