West Ham United’s hopes of avoiding relegation took another heavy blow after they were beaten 3-1 by Newcastle United on Sunday.
With just one match left this season, West Ham sit in the relegation zone on 36 points — two behind 17th-placed Tottenham, who still have two games in hand.
Nick Woltemade opened the scoring in the 15th minute, before William Osula grabbed a brace in the 19th and 65th to put the Magpies firmly in control. Valentín Castellanos pulled one back for the Hammers in the 69th minute, but it proved little more than a consolation.
To have any chance of staying up, West Ham must beat Leeds United on the final day and hope that Tottenham lose both of their remaining fixtures against Chelsea and Everton — while also bridging the goal difference gap.
After the match, West Ham manager Nuno Espírito Santo told BBC Sport: “Bad, bad. Overall bad performance. Too many things went wrong. I think we gifted them the goals. Really disappointing.
“Look, it’s going to be a tough week for us. We realise the situation is extremely difficult. Let’s see what happens on Tuesday. More than anything, it’s about respect, work and competing in our last game at London Stadium.”
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said: “It would have been easy for people to look at this and say Newcastle had nothing to play for — but we have a duty to be at our very best and I’m pleased with how we went about it. We have a lot of players who play with pride and would never want to let the club down.”
Newcastle climbed to 11th place with 49 points, now level with Chelsea in 10th (who have two games left), Everton in 12th (one game remaining) and Fulham in 13th (also one game left).
