West Ham beats Newcastle 4-2 in Premier League opener

West Ham twice came from a goal down to start its Premier League campaign with a 4-2 victory against Newcastle on Sunday in a crowd-pleasing game in front of a full St James’ Park.

Callum Wilson put Newcastle ahead in just the fifth minute and the game continued at a furious pace until the final whistle, with West Ham scoring three unanswered goals in 14 second-half minutes to get the win.

Aaron Cresswell scored the visitors' first equalizer in the 18th minute when his teasing low ball drifted beyond the outstretched leg of Tomas Soucek and into the net. The goal was initially flagged for offside, but stood after a replay showed the ball had already crossed the line before Jarrod Bowen tapped it.

But Newcastle retook the lead five minutes before the end of an entertaining first half as Jacob Murphy stooped to head home after Matt Ritchie’s cross from the by-line had just evaded the leaping Wilson.

West Ham hit back again eight minutes after halftime, with Said Benrahma getting between two defenders to head in at the back post following a cross from Michail Antonio, who did well to control a difficult pass on the left.

Antonio then saw a bullet header cannon off the bar and ricochet into Murphy, who was adjudged to have brought down Pablo Fornals in the area in an attempt to claim the loose ball. Goalkeeper Freddie Woodman guessed right to save Antonio’s penalty low to his left, but Soucek was first to the rebound and bundled in after 63 minutes.

It took only another three minutes for West Ham to seize complete control as Antonio finally got on the scoresheet on the counter, getting the ball on to his right foot and drilling low into the corner beyond Woodman.