Newcastle ended their home campaign on Sunday with one of their most entertaining displays this season, aided by a meek West Ham side supposedly fighting for their Premier League lives.

After an uninspired showing at Nottingham Forest a week earlier, the Magpies thankfully managed to rediscover their happy knack of rounding off a season on Tyneside by beating a London club thanks to goals from a new-look forward duo comprising of Nick Woltemade and in-form Will Osula.

Victories at Gallowgate over West Ham, Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal have sent supporters back down Barrack Road on something of a high note over the last decade plus, although the major frustration with the 2026 finale is that our recent indifferent form made today's win comparatively meaningless.   

Although our exasperating inability to be competitive in this mundane PL season can be traced back to the squad shortcomings exposed by 12 Champions League ties, the carrot of qualification remains - the failure to do so advanced as a reason for a desire to depart. 

Three points for Eddie Howe's side left them still in contention for an unlikely European spot although they would need a quartet of favourable results elsewhere on the final day of the season. And that possibility could be removed completely should Chelsea defeat Spurs on Tuesday evening.

Defeat for the Hammers meanwhile left Spurs just needing one point from their closing two games in order to condemn former boss Nuno Espirito Santo and the Eastenders to the Championship, just three years after European Conference League success under David Moyes.

On a day that Kieran Trippier made his final bow at St.James' Park, the decision to field Osula and Woltemade in the same PL line-up for only the second time hinted at a future without Anthony Gordon - looking on again from the bench here today as his time in black and white ebbs away. 

Osula boosted his stats five goals in six games with a strike in each half, while Woltemade scored his first Premier League goal of 2026 as the Hammers were dispatched with surprising ease - having come a cropper after repeating the formation that had frustrated Arsenal the previous weekend.

Nuno would rectify that with a switch midway through the opening half, substitute Taty Castellanos replacing the hapless Jean-Clair Todibo to lessen the attacking burden on old boy Callum Wilson.

The damage was done by then though; West Ham having survived a penalty shout for a handball by Tomas Soucek and previews of the havoc that Osula's pace threatened to wreak on the visiting defence before the opening goal.

Slackness at the back allowed Harvey Barnes to tee up Woltemade's opener after quarter of an hour, before the Hammers were nailed again when an all-too rare moment of sweet passing precision ended with Osula's first of the afternoon - a lethal finish from a player who looked like a centre forward.

His post-goal Michael Jackson stylings may have been better kept for Craven Cottage next week (although the infamous statue of him there is long gone), while the lack of an unsuccessful free kick attempt denied us the chance to drop the phrase "off the wall" into this report...

The reshaped Hammers side began to threaten, causing Nick Pope to belatedly get involved with an unorthodox double save. That continued after the break, Wilson's positioning and guile thankfully unable to camouflage the fact that his pace has largely gone. He ends the season on six PL goals however - all from open play - a mere five more than Yoane Wissa. 

Lewis Hall, Barnes and Bruno all went close at the other end, before the game looked to have ended as a contest in the 65th minute. Another swift counter attack saw substitute Joe Willock break into the box and unselfishly lay the ball on a plate for Osula to claim his second of the afternoon.

Without an away goal in over six hours, West Ham dramatically ended Pope's latest hope of a clean sheet four minutes later when a superb dipping effort by Castellanos gave his side faint hope - home followers instantly grateful for that third goal, given our recurring ability to implode this season.

Castellanos grazed the bar and Wilson tumbled over twice in one attack in search of a penalty, but even Newcastle couldn't throw away a three goal advantage and could have added to their tally following the arrival of Anthony Elanga and Wissa.

The former appeared in place of Trippier, who departed to great applause, leaving the field here for the last time on a rather higher note that he began life here in January 2022. His debut concluded coaxing colleagues to acknowledging home fans following an FA Cup loss to Cambridge United.

Newcastle sat nineteenth in the table when he arrived from Atletico Madrid: a significant part of our subsequent upturn attributable to his contribution as both a player and a motivator, culminating in Champions League participations and the acquisition of that elusive silverware.

Like Gordon though, Trippier's departure opens up opportunities for others to write their own part in our history. Osula's progress gives cause for optimism that Howe can still shape raw material to good effect - something that in our eyes includes Woltemade.

Tempted as we are by the prospect of obscure continental jaunts though, the effect of 17 ties on Crystal Palace and 16 on Nottingham Forest this season underlines the fact that a Europe-free campaign next time round may be exactly what we need to regroup and build firmer foundations.

After all, concentrating on domestic competitions served us quite well two seasons ago...

Biffa