Newcastle 0-0 West Ham
- Published
Newcastle picked up their first Premier League point this season with a goalless draw against West Ham.
West Ham's Winston Reid went close to scoring an own goal in the first half before twice just failing to get a touch to set-pieces at the other end.
Hatem Ben Arfa was the home side's main threat with several efforts from long range, while Joe Cole shot just inches over the bar for the visitors.
Yoan Gouffran wasted a fine chance for Newcastle late on from close range.
While West Ham created the better chances throughout, Gouffran's missed opportunity deep into time added on was the closest the game came to a goal.
It means that West Ham boss Sam Allardyce left Tyneside unbeaten for the third time since being sacked by Newcastle in 2008. The Hammers have picked up four points from their opening two games, following a 2-0 opening-day win over Cardiff.
Alan Pardew, in his 100th Premier League game as Newcastle manager, was without Yohan Cabaye for the second match in a row. The France midfielder was also left out of the 4-0 defeat by Manchester City in the wake of what Newcastle deemed a "derisory" offer of £10m from Arsenal.
Hammers defender Reid featured in the first half's three best chances, the first of which saw him touch the ball wide of his own goal posts under pressure from Papiss Cisse.
The New Zealander twice nearly latched on to set-pieces inside the Newcastle area, while the home side's main openings before half-time were Ben Arfa's three off-target shots from distance.
Stewart Downing, making his first start for West Ham since his transfer from Liverpool, set up Kevin Nolan with a cross on the hour but, having found space, the Londoners' skipper headed wide against his former club.
With heavy rain falling after the break, neither side could threaten despite a number of substitutions from both managers, including Cole replacing Downing shortly after Nolan's chance.
Cole went close to his second goal of the season when he lashed a Matt Jarvis cross just a few inches over the corner of Krul's post and bar.
But with time beginning to run out, both sides went close to grabbing a goal with West Ham's Modibo Maiga flagged for offside as he netted from a deflected Ravel Morrison shot.
However the hosts nearly grabbed a 93rd-minute winner when Sammy Ameobi hit the inside of the post with a looping effort and Gouffran could not hit the target with Jussi Jaaskelainen stranded.
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce: "It's really disappointing to have had three golden chances, and then we got a goal that would have killed off Newcastle but that was ruled offside, although that was probably correct.
"On the other side, defensively we were absolutely superb. Playing away from home, and the home team having zero shots on target in 90 minutes, shows our defensively resilient qualities today.
"Sadly our creative qualities were there, but there was nobody on the end to finish it off and make us go home very, very happy with three points instead of one."
- Published24 August 2013
- Published7 June 2019