West Ham 2 Newcastle United 3: Magpies' slide ends in festive thriller

Newcastle United moved out of the Premier League relegation zone as they claimed a first win in 10 games with a pulsating 3-2 victory over West Ham on Saturday.

The Magpies went into the contest at London Stadium having taken just one point from the last 27 available, and looked set for another long afternoon when Marko Arnautovic pounced on an early Christmas gift from Henri Saivet to open the scoring.

But Saivet, making his first start in central midfield under Rafael Benitez with Mikel Merino and Isaac Hayden both injured, quickly equalised with a long-range free-kick.

Newcastle twice struck the woodwork as they enjoyed the better of the first half, and eventually completed the turnaround in the second as Mohamed Diame scored against his former club.

An immediate chance for West Ham to level was not taken when Andre Ayew saw a contentious penalty kept out by Rob Elliot and Christian Atsu soon punished him at the other end by capping off a lightning break from the hosts' corner to put Newcastle two clear.

Ayew provided hope for West Ham in the 69th minute but his spot-kick failure ultimately proved decisive as they could not find a late leveller, meaning it is now back-to-back defeats for David Moyes as their recent upturn in form is halted, while Benitez can finally be allowed to feel somewhat more festive.