Newcastle United’s Bruno Guimaraes poked home the only goal in a 1-0 win at West Ham United that lifted his side into sixth place in the Premier League on Monday.
The Brazilian applied the finishing touch from close range to a pass by Harvey Barnes in the 63rd minute and it proved enough to secure the points.
It was an impressive display by Newcastle which could have been excused having one eye on Sunday’s League Cup final against Liverpool at Wembley and the win put it right back in the mix for a Champions League qualifying berth.
“It was a massive win, we want to fight for Champions League again,” Guimaraes told Sky Sports.
“(The final) has been a little bit of a distraction to be honest. Impossible for the players not to think about the final and we want to make history and be part of it.”
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Newcastle has 47 points from 28 games, level with Manchester City and two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.
West Ham was seeking a third league win in a row but was disappointing and managed only a couple of efforts on target as it remained in 16th place with 33 points.
The closest it came to scoring was in the opening minutes when a mistake by Newcastle’s Tino Livramento let in Tomas Soucek, but the midfielder fired over the crossbar.
Barnes was Newcastle’s main threat in the opening half, wasting one good chance and then forcing a sharp reflex save from Alphonse Areola with a close-range flick.
He was fully involved in Newcastle’s winner as his deft chipped cross picked out Guimaraes, who stretched out his leg to deflect the ball into the net, although there was a suspicion that United forward Alexander Isak had shoved Max Kilman in the back as the ball came across.
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“It’s two hands on the back. It’s a push. You can see from Isak’s non celebration he thinks it’s a push. Clear for us but I’m not VAR,” West Ham manager Graham Potter said.
Having gone in front, Newcastle barely mustered another attack but was disciplined at the back against a West Ham side which huffed and puffed but offered little threat.
“We just need to carry on improving our attacking play. It’s not easy to do it at mid-season but I’m pretty confident we can turn it around,” Potter added.
