‘You have to’ - West Ham star reveals key reason for win v Newcastle United

The Hammers were 2-0 victors on Tyneside courtesy of goals from Tomas Soucek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka to relieve the pressure on Julen Lopetegui. An early goal by Soucek from a corner put the visitors ahead before Wan-Bissaka doubled their lead in the second period to inflict Newcastle their second home defeat of the season.

Despite entering the game on a high of three successive wins, Eddie Howe’s side were outplayed by the Hammers on a night that saw the majority of the 52,000 people inside St James’ Park head home in a deflated mood. Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Jarrod Bowen believes it was his side’s ability in controlling the crowd that helped his side to victory.

"I said we needed a performance before the game and I think we did that.” Bowen said post-match. “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."

Newcastle now have just five days to lick their wounds before they travel to south London to face a Crystal Palace side that earned a point at Villa Park at the weekend. Howe’s side ended the night in 10th place in the Premier League, having had the opportunity to move into third with a win.