West Ham 2-0 Newcastle: Hosts up to ninth with comfortable win

West Ham moved up to ninth in the Premier League table with a comfortable 2-0 win over Newcastle at London Stadium on Saturday.

Declan Rice headed his second-ever West Ham goal into the net in the seventh minute to give his side a lead they never really looked like relinquishing.

Then, after Javier Hernandez had been fouled in the penalty area in the 42nd minute, Mark Noble converted his 22nd Premier League penalty to put the hosts well in command.

Newcastle rallied after the break, but rarely threatened until late on, with Salomon Rondon denied by smart Lukasz Fabianski save, as West Ham saw out the win that sees them leapfrog Everton into ninth, having played a game more, while Newcastle drop to 14th after their first defeat in four.

West Ham officially renamed the East Stand at the London Stadium in honour of the club's legendary captain Billy Bonds in an emotional ceremony pre-match, and the players did the occasion justice right from the off and soon took the lead, with Rice climbing highest to meet Robert Snodgrass's corner before glancing his header into the net.

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Ayoze Perez then had an equaliser rightly ruled out for offside, before Javier Manquillo's volley was well cleared by Issa Diop.

Then West Ham were gifted the opportunity to double their lead after Florian Lejeune tripped Hernandez in the box, with the ever-reliable Noble converting the spot kick with aplomb.

After the break, Perez fired a low cross into the middle which just evaded Rondon in the middle, but otherwise Newcastle were struggling to make inroads.

Hernandez then fired into the side netting, before new signing Miguel Almiron dragged his effort wide for Newcastle.

The pace of the game slowed right down late on, with Rondon bringing the best out of Fabianski from a free-kick, but West Ham strolled out their fourth home win in their last five London Stadium games in all competitions in comfort.

Opta stats

• West Ham United, have completed the league double over Newcastle for the first time since the 1998-99 season.
• Newcastle have lost 75 Premier League away games in London, more than any other side.
• West Ham have lost just one of their last eight home Premier League games, and are unbeaten in their last five at the London Stadium (W3 D2).
• Newcastle have enjoyed just two wins in their last 17 away Premier League games (D6 L9) are without a victory on the road in six (D2 L4).
• West Ham's Declan Rice has scored in two of his last four Premier League home games after failing to score in his first 19.
• Since the start of last season, Robert Snodgrass has registered 19 assists in the league, a haul only four players can better in the top four tiers (Marcus Maddison 28, Leroy Sané 24, Graham Carey 21 and Raheem Sterling 20).
• West Ham's Mark Noble has scored 22 penalties in the Premier League since his debut in August 2005 - only Frank Lampard (36), Steven Gerrard (31), Sergio Aguero (24) and Wayne Rooney (23) have scored more in that period.

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Man of the match - Declan Rice

No stopping this young man at the moment. He took his goal brilliantly, and is starting to look at home at both ends of the pitch. Defensively, Rice was superb once again, winning more tackles than anyone else on the pitch, with no player making more passes than Rice. He is anything but shy to get involved, and is growing by the week. England might have a star on their hands.

What's next?

West Ham travel to Cardiff next weekend, while Newcastle host Everton.

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