On a bitterly cold Tyneside night West Ham finally remembered how to fight back. Even better for their beleaguered manager, Julen Lopetegui, a team inspired by standout performances from Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen exhibited the sort of ruthless precision strangely absent from Newcastle’s game.

Expertly taken goals from Soucek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka reinforced Lopetegui’s fragile job security, lifting West Ham to 14th, three points behind Eddie Howe’s team, as Newcastle’s hopes of Champions League qualification sustained a dent.