Newcastle warmed up for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final by beating West Ham 1-0 at the London Stadium to climb into the Premier League’s top six and put life back into their Champions League challenge.
A run of three league defeats in four had left Eddie Howe’s side teetering on the brink of falling away in the race for Europe, while there was also valuable momentum at stake before they face Liverpool at Wembley for the chance to end a 70-year domestic trophy drought.
Bruno Guimaraes got the crucial goal in the 63rd minute, displaying clever movement to ghost away from West Ham’s defence and turn in Harvey Barnes’ cross from close range.
Mohammed Kudus’ cross from the left was hugely inviting, and after Jarrod Bowen and defender Tino Livramento had each gone for the ball and missed it, arriving at the far post was Tomas Soucek, who got badly underneath his first-time shot from six yards and scooped high over the bar.
A promising start gave way to more of the same for West Ham in their disappointing season. As the first half wore on, Bowen and Kudus increasingly found themselves isolated, with too great a distance between each other and from any support from midfield.
On the one further occasion Kudus was able to run with the ball at his feet, Kieran Trippier stood up well to block his way as he entered the box, then Bowen arrived to crash the loose ball straight against his team-mate.
As West Ham’s threat receded, so Newcastle took charge. Barnes, in for the suspended Anthony Gordon, had their first clear opening.
After Trippier had thumped the ball into the box, possibly going for goal, Barnes was first onto it with an attempted dink beyond the advancing goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, who darting from his goal saved well.
With a starting place in the Carabao Cup final up for grabs in Gordon’s absence, Barnes was staking a worthy claim. He came closer still to giving Newcastle the lead when, following a Trippier corner, Dan Burn reached the ball to flick it into his path, Areola again showing smart reactions to push away the header.
West Ham’s goalkeeper produced an outrageous save to preserve parity on the hour mark.
Jacob Murphy’s drilled cut-back from the byline should have been less trouble than Maximilian Kilman made of it, the defender’s attempted clearance spinning waywardly behind him and appearing destined for the top corner, until Areola’s superhuman reach clawed it from under the bar.
It was a temporary reprieve. Moments later, Barnes was given time on the edge of the box to attempt not one but two crosses, the second of them clearing the defence and finding the reaching boot of Guimaraes who manoeuvred goal-side of Ollie Scarles to prod it home.
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