Newcastle United 3-0 West Ham United - An utterly dominant display from Benitez's men

Straight from the opening whistle, it was the home side who were on the attack. Ayoze Perez and Matt Ritchie were very busy early on, but their crosses failed to find anybody in the box.

Joselu was handed his first home start and he had the first shot of the game. Isaac Hayden got down the right and picked out the Spaniard, but he could only prod a shot wide.

West ham looked toothless up front, but when called upon, the Newcastle defence did their job amicably. Chancel Mbemba especially was responsible for cutting out the Hammers' attacks.

Isaac Hayden looked much better than in previous weeks. He had a chance but struck a shot just over Joe Hart's bar.

The away side took half an hour to create any chance of note. Aaron Cresswell got on the end of a cross from the right, but blazed a shot high over the bar.

Then, the first Premier League goal of the season for Newcastle arrived. Mikel Merino, who was outstanding throughout, played in Christian Atsu and the Ghanian squared for Joselu to grab his first goal. Brilliant from the Magpies.

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Merino and Atsu made Hart work in the West Ham goal just before the interval, but the teams were separated by a single goal at half time.

Manuel Lanzini was introduced at the break as Slaven Bilic tried to inject some creativity into his side.

They did liven up a little. Cresswell got his shot on target this time and stung the gloves of Rob Elliot. Ciaran Clark then did brilliantly to deny Javier Hernandez an easy tap-in.

Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

It was almost carbon copy at the other end. Ritchie smashed a shot at goal, which Hart could only parry, but Zabaleta reacted well to deny Joselu a second goal.

The persistent Ritchie did eventually produce a moment of quality when he floated a cross over for Clark, who made no mistake. The Magpies lead 2-0.

The floodgates were about to open. West Ham were on the rocks. First, Ritchie looked nailed on to score after Mbemba did very well down the left, but his shot was blocked.

Merino then nutmegged Hernandez, found Hayden, who then crossed for the substitute Aleksandar Mitrovic, but he headed just wide.

The Serbian then had a great chance, but was denied by Hart....then he made up for it by making it 3-0!

A day of real joy for the home faithful. It has been a fairly disastrous few weeks and a fine victory gives the team some momentum heading into the international break.