West Ham United's top-four hopes were dealt a big blow as Joe Willock's late header earned Newcastle United a 3-2 home win in a see-saw clash on Saturday.
The London club's unlikely challenge for a Champions League place has been a rollercoaster ride in recent weeks, and Saturday proved no exception.
In their previous three games West Ham had taken 3-0 leads in a 3-3 draw with Arsenal and 3-2 wins over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City.
At St James' Park, they reversed the pattern.
A disastrous first half saw WestHam capitulate in spectacular fashion after an Issa Diop own goal followed an awful blunder by goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski – that allowed Joelinton to give Newcastle a 2-0 lead – while also having Craig Dawson sent-off for two reckless challenges.
But the second half saw the London side, who could have moved into third spot with a win, produce a spirited revival.
Diop scored at the right end to give West Ham hope in the 73rd minute, and Jesse Lingard converted a penalty to make it 2-2 with little under 10 minutes remaining. But there was a final cruel twist for the visitors as Newcastle substitute Joe Willock headed home a late winner with his first touch two minutes later.
The result puts Newcastle nine points clear of third-bottom Fulham and up into relative safety of 15th place.
West Ham's defeat means they stay in fourth place on 55 points from 32 games, one point above Chelsea and three above Liverpool, both of whom have a game in hand.
