West Ham 0 Newcastle 1: A left-sided solution, a rare clean sheet and Wembley encouragement

Newcastle United gave themselves a jolt of confidence ahead of the Carabao Cup final and moved back into the reckoning for a place in next season’s Champions League by beating West Ham United.

After a spell of poor form and worse luck in terms of injury and suspension, a second-half goal from Bruno Guimaraes was enough to seal victory at the London Stadium.

The three points take Newcastle from ninth to sixth in the Premier League, level on 47 points with Manchester City in fifth, which is likely to be good enough to qualify for a berth in Europe’s leading club competition.

Just as importantly, Eddie Howe’s team appeared to avoid any more setbacks ahead of their fixture against Liverpool at Wembley on Sunday.

Chris Waugh and George Caulkin analyse the key talking points.

Is this the left-hand side that will start at Wembley?

With Anthony Gordon suspended and Lewis Hall injured, Howe has had to completely revamp his entire left flank — and, given the short proximity to Sunday’s final, it appears likely Tino Livramento and Harvey Barnes are primed to start against Liverpool.

Rather than opt for the dovetailing, underlapping and overlapping duo of Joelinton and Joe Willock, Howe selected an out-and-out left-winger in Barnes, offering the 27-year-old a first Premier League start since the 4-2 capitulation at Brentford on December 7.

For Newcastle, Barnes has scored six Premier League goals as a replacement (30 games) and four as a starter (14 appearances), earning him an unwanted tag as a “super sub”. This was an opportunity for him to grasp his chance in front of Thomas Tuchel, the new England manager, and he did manage three first-half shots — one with each foot and a header — and was unfortunate not to find the back of the net, with Alphonse Areola twice denying him.

As has too often been the case, however, Barnes was too peripheral in Newcastle’s general play. The entire team lacked tempo in a low-quality match, but Barnes did not disrupt the West Ham backline often enough.

Yet he was afforded time and space in the 63rd minute, first to curl a shot from the left-hand edge of the box, which was blocked, before he whipped a delicious ball into the six-yard box for Guimaraes to open the scoring.

Having two right-footers on the left is problematic because, although Barnes’ trademark move is to cut inside and shoot as an inverted winger, Livramento naturally shifts the ball on to his right, too. Regularly, Livramento got in behind Aaron Wan-Bissaka, the wing-back, only to stop and cut inside, something which became predictable and West Ham easily defended against that ploy.

The Barnes and Livramento pairing is still a work in progress, but there were some signs of encouragement.

Chris Waugh

A first league clean sheet in almost two months

Newcastle could not have complained too vehemently had they been 2-0 down within the first couple of minutes.

Livramento was all over the place, an unmarked Tomas Soucek missed from six yards out, Dan Burn swiped at a ball and it spun onto Edson Alvarez and flew wide. To put it mildly, this was not a convincing start.

From there, matters improved, certainly at the back, which felt important given Newcastle’s attacking threat was far more implied than actual until Guimaraes scored. Their (relative) solidity gave them something to build on.

A 13th clean sheet of the season in all competitions was their first in the Premier League since their 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on January 15, the final game of their brilliant nine-match winning run.

Since then, their cohesion and reliability has withered. In league and cup Newcastle had conceded 11 goals over their previous four fixtures, encompassing defeats by Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion and a 4-3 victory over Nottingham Forest which Howe admitted felt more like a loss.

West Ham provided the assist, dropping back deep into their own territory after their early advances and offering little going forward, but Newcastle maintained their focus. Now they have a foundation for Wembley.

George Caulkin

A timely boost with Sunday’s cup final on the horizon

During the build-up, Howe repeatedly asserted that this was a “huge match” for Newcastle and promised that he would play his strongest XI.

Much of the focus may have been diverted towards the Carabao Cup final, but within the context of Newcastle’s Premier League campaign and their quest for European qualification, this game was extremely significant. Newcastle had lost three of their previous four top-flight matches and suffered five defeats in nine across all competitions during a general regression in form since mid-January.

Having slipped to ninth following the weekend’s results, Newcastle have ensured they end the gameweek in sixth, level on points with fifth-placed Manchester City and only two adrift of Chelsea in fourth. Just five points separate six teams from Manchester City down to Fulham in 10th, so Newcastle simply had to respond to their rivals’ positive results.

Crucially, after the insipid defeat at Anfield and the damaging FA Cup exit against Brighton, Newcastle have belatedly wrestled back at least some positive momentum heading into Sunday’s Wembley showpiece. Newcastle were far from their intense, front-foot best, but the defensive resilience and mental fortitude they showed to secure victory should boost confidence.

Newcastle may still be massive underdogs against Liverpool, but at least they head into the final off the back of an important win. Had they been defeated at the London Stadium, then just about all Wembley hope would have been lost, too.

Chris Waugh

What next for Newcastle?

Sunday, March 16: Liverpool (Wembley), Carabao Cup final, 4.30pm UK, 11.30am ET

Recommended reading

(Top photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)