Julen Lopetegui said: 

"I said congratulations to all of the players because they all put in very good work.

"We had one identity today, and I think we did well with and without the ball. Above all we were a team, and we fought for each other, and that is what you need to compete on an occasion like today.

"I think we showed lots of personality, and we did really well to overcome what is a tough occasion to come and play Newcastle at their own ground like this.

We tried to take advantage of the international break. Even though we had quite a few players away, we still worked on a number of things, and it’s paid off today. The most important thing is that we’ve managed to come away with three points against a very good team. 

"We are happy, above all, for the fans - They have all made the very long journey here from London, and unfortunately we haven’t been able to give them many days like this during this season.

"So, we are happy for them, and we hope they had a good night. Hopefully we can give them many more days like this going forward.

"It’s important we use this result and performance, and take it into our next match now. It was important to win, but the way we played and fought as a team is what we can take the most going forward.

"Always we try to improve, and we know we still have to improve, so we will go straight back to work and do everything we can to do well in the next match."

Early goals in each half were enough to give West Ham an unexpected but deserved success at an exasperated St. James' Park on Monday evening. 

Seeking their fourth successive win in all competitions, all but one of the Newcastle side that had started against Nottingham Forest kept their places - the only enforced change seeing Lloyd Kelly replacing the suspended Dan Burn in central defence.

At least initially, Newcastle started where they'd left off before the international break; bright and eager as they moved the ball around, forcing the visitors to defend deep as both full backs threatened down the flanks.

Emerging on to the field to flag displays in his honour at both ends of the ground, Alexander Isak looked in the mood to continue his recent scoring spree - firing narrowly wide of the target early on and looking to have scored for the fifth successive Newcastle game with just four minutes gone.

Sadly, a linesman's flag and subsequent VAR validation confirmed that he'd strayed narrowly offside when dashing from the halfway line to chip goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski at the Gallowgate End - the hosts yet again kicking down the hill in the first half.

As was the case at the City Ground last time out, a static Magpies defence then failed to deal with a set piece situation and were duly punished - Tomas Soucek able to latch on to Emerson's corner and head home easily; Kelly rooted to the spot when a clearing header didn't seem too difficult.  

Shooting opportunities continued to appear for the home side - Joe Willock slashing wide when a defensive rick gave him possession inside the box and Isak then volleying wide from closer in (although he may have been in an offside position when receiving Bruno's perceptive pass).

Aside from another self-induced panic that gave Anthony Gordon the chance to rattle a shot off Fabianski though, the visiting goalkeeper had little to do before the break - and would be even less involved in proceedings after that..... 

An ineffectual display capped by onfield treatment for a leg injury saw Willock unsurprisingly replaced at half time; repeating his pattern of posting a decent display, talking about rediscovering form and fitness and then promptly having a stinker and limping off.

Harvey Barnes was introduced against the side he'd bagged a brace against on Tyneside last season when brought off the bench and soon found space down the left to drag a centre over that Gordon turned into a shooting chance and rolled beyond the far post.

As was the case in the first half though, no sooner had Newcastle began to find their forward rhythm than they suffered another rude awakening at the other end of the park, the unlikely figure of Aaron Wan-Bissaka possession waltzing into the box before firing in.

Making a 248th career appearance, the visiting full back celebrated his first West Ham goal and only his third ever; having also netted here in the colours of Manchester United four years earlier.

The goal was a comedy of errors from the hosts; Bruno too easily robbed by his mate Paqueta, Kelly failing to block and Pope beaten by a weak effort scuffed towards the gaping area at his back post.

Although over 30 minutes of normal time remained, that effectively ended the game as a contest; the arrival of Sandro Tonali and Jacob Murphy failing to produce any threat to Fabianski's clean sheet and increasing frustration prompted by and prompting aimless long balls upfield.

Only a first sighting of Callum Wilson this season looked momentarily to have given his side hope, blatantly impeded by Konstantinos Mavropanos in front of goal while trying to connect with a cross.

Useless referee Craig Pawson failed to give a decision and a swift VAR check courtesy of Chris Kavanagh somehow decided not to intervene - Wilson surely in prime position to head home Murphy's cross had Mavropanos not fouled him.

Supposedly one defeat away from packing his bags, Julen Lopetegui instead celebrated his first-ever victory at Gallowgate while opposite number Eddie Howe was left to rue the inconsistency of a side whose response to falling behind left a great deal to be desired.

This time the manager's substitutions didn't help and just seemed to make a bad situation worse - a choice of eight outfield replacements unable to fill in the gaps that appeared, ending up with Kieran Trippier in some hybrid quarter back role when Bruno's race was run.

A rude awakening then from whatever presumptions of greatness our recent run prompted amongst players and supporters - some of the latter at least seemingly thinking this would be a foregone conclusion, despite the well-documented problems we've suffered this season when faced with less ambitious opposition - some of our latter stage bewilderment tonight mirrored the concluding part of the AFC Wimbledon home cup game, when we quite looked utterly clueless....

And while Joelinton and Fabian Schar managed to avoid the bookings that would have brought one game bans, knocks sustained by both Willock and Bruno weren't welcome news ahead of a hectic fixture schedule.

On a night when three points would have taken them up to sixth in the table and left them just one point off third spot, Newcastle instead dropped two places into tenth, having faltered again as they seemed set to soar. 

Biffa