Hammers hit back late to draw with Newcastle

After Tomáš Souček had given West Ham United the lead on eight minutes with his fourth goal of the season, David Moyes’ men then went on to dominate the Eddie Howe’s Tynesiders during one-sided first half.

Newcastle United rallied after the break, though, to take the lead through Alexander’s Isak’s quickfire, double-barrelled blast around the hour mark but just when it looked like Thursday’s European endeavours had exhausted them, Moyes saw his side muster a merited point thanks to that late, late leveller from summer signing Kudus.  

Having broken the English record of going 17 games undefeated in Europe with their 2-1 UEFA Europa League Group A win at SC Freiburg, three days on, Moyes made a quintet of changes as the Hammers returned to domestic action.

In came Souček together with fit-again Michail Antonio, captain Kurt Zouma, Alphonse Areola and Emerson for substitutes Kudus, Pablo Fornals, Thilo Kehrer plus injured duo of Konstantinos Mavropanos and Łukasz Fabiański, who pulled up in the warm-up to be replaced on the bench by rookie keeper Joseph Anang.

And within just eight minutes, three of those recalled faces made a telling early impact as Antonio laid the ball back to Lucas Paquetá, whose searching forward chip down the left flank allowed the overlapping Emerson to draw the lone figure of Nick Pope before inviting the supporting Souček to slot West Ham into the lead.

The Magpies may have also enjoyed an epic European evening all of their very own on Wednesday night with a formidable 4-1 UEFA Champions League victory over Paris Saint-Germain at St James’ Park but now they already found themselves chasing the game.

Kicking off in eighth spot – one place and one point below West Ham in the Premier League – Newcastle had made just one switch with Elliot Anderson coming in for the suspended Anthony Gordon and before the clock had even ticked onto the 20-minute mark, they could have been another key man down, too.

Already booked for a crude chop on Emerson as he threatened another gallop down that left flank, Bruno Guimarães somehow escaped a second yellow card for another late lunge on James Ward-Prowse, moments later. 

Had the boy from Rio not already been cautioned for that earlier challenge on São Paulo-born Emerson, then he would have certainly gone into referee Peter Bankes’ notebook for that one.

Regardless, that was about the closest that Newcastle had got towards laying a glove on Moyes’ men.

“No noise from the Geordie boys,” taunted the Hammers fans towards their counterparts who were enduring a difficult afternoon in the capital, although they did slowly start to get into gear with Miguel Almiron launching a dipping 25-yarder inches over the left-angle before Dan Burn’s downward header also bounced agonisingly wide of the base of Areola’s right-hand upright.

Antonio was also cautioned for sliding into the breaking Isak a split second too late and, with the Hammers largely remaining untroubled through until the interval, Edson Álvarez came so close to doubling their lead just after the restart but having met Ward-Prowse’s low, out-swinging corner the Mexican’s diving header flew wide of the left-hand upright.

That was a telling near-miss for West Ham, who then saw Burn meet Isak’s chip with a powerful point-blank header that the athletic Areola acrobatically beat away but with the home fans still acknowledging that brilliant save, the Frenchman then found himself picking the ball out of the net anyway.

With Paquetá harshly-adjudged to have fouled Sandro Tonali, Kieran Trippier floated the consequent 57th-minute free-kick towards the 18-yard line, where Álvarez’s inadvertently headed the ball into the path of Isak, who swept home from close range.

Having just equalised, Isak then took just five minutes to put Newcastle ahead with his seventh goal of the campaign. 

This time Tonali’s terrific, crossfield pass arrived at the feet of Trippier, whose right-wing ball into the six-yard box saw the Swedish striker escape from Nayef Aguerd to sidefoot the Tynesiders ahead.

Isak might even have had his hat-trick shortly afterwards when he sprinted clear and rounded Areola, but with the retreating Aguerd having created an almost impossible angle, he was denied the match ball by the base of the near post.

That was the cue for Kudus and Saïd Benrahma to replace the weary Antonio and goalscorer Souček for the final quarter of an hour as the tiring Hammers looked to rediscover some much-needed energy in their quest to rescue the contest which had now somehow slipped through their clutches.

It was a switch that did indeed pay rich dividends for Moyes as, on 88 minutes, Zouma cleverly drove forward from the edge of his own area before releasing Vladimír Coufal down the right flank and the Czech Republic defender patiently squared to Kudus.

Ignoring Fabian Schär’s last-ditch challenge, the Hammers substitute left fly with a low 18-yarder which sizzled beyond the outstretched left glove of Pope before ripping into the bottom right corner of the net to give him his third goal in Claret and Blue since his £38million transfer from Ajax  and West Ham a richly-deserved draw.

WEST HAM UNITED: Areola, Coufal, Emerson, Zouma, Aguerd, Souček (Kudus 75), Álvarez, Ward-Prowse, Paquetá, Bowen, Antonio (Benrahma 75). Unused subs: Anang, Fornals, Cornet, Ings, Ogbonna, Kehrer, Mubama.

NEWCASTLE UNITED: Pope, Trippier, Burn, Lascelles, Schär, Guimarães, Longstaff, Tonali, Almiron (Murphy 82), Anderson (Targett 90+3), Isak (Wilson 85). Unused subs: Dúbravka, Dummett, Ritchie, Manquillo, Hall, Livramento.

Booked: Guimarães (17), Antonio (35), Almiron (66), Longstaff (80).

Referee: Peter Bankes.