West Ham won the midfield battle against Newcastle in their 3-1 win on Sunday
West Ham United manager Nuno Espírito Santo and Freddie Potts
West Ham United manager Nuno Espírito Santo and Freddie Potts(Image: 2025 CameraSport)
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West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo admitted their plan was to 'control' the midfield battle after they beat Newcastle United 3-1 at the London Stadium.
The Hammers secured only their second win of the season as goals from Lucas Paqueta, Tomas Soucek and a Sven Botman own goal rendered Jacob Murphy's opening goal pointless.
The Magpies were dreadful all over the pitch but it was telling how much they struggled to dictate the game in midfield - something we have come accustomed to with the midfield trio of Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Joelinton.
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But Nuno has revealed they specifically targeted Guimaraes and Joelinton to limit their freedom to play and praised the work of midfield duo Mateus Fernandes and Freddie Potts - who was making his first Premier League start - for doing just that.
"The idea was to try and control the middle against Newcastle because they have Bruno, they have Joelinton, they have some quality players," Nuno said after the game.
"If you allow them to play free, they're going to put you against the road, so realising that you had to work very hard was good and the young guys did it. It was important to see that we were suffering but not conceding.
"We were being resilient without the ball, realising that if we are organised it's hard to beat us. So it’s a small step in the way we had to improve."
The win lifted West Ham to within three points of safety but it left Newcastle in 13th place, six points adrift of the Champions League places.
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