West Ham United saw their mini-revival grind to a halt when they lost 3-2 at home to Newcastle United on Saturday.
West Ham had turned a corner under David Moyes of late taking seven points from games against Chelsea, Arsenal and Stoke City.
That dragged the club out of the relegation zone and moving towards mid table.
Since then, though, they have gone out of the Carabao Cup at the quarter-final stage with a meek performance at Arsenal and reverted to type with a shocking defensive performance to lose 3-2 on their own patch to a team that has not won in the Premier League for three months.
It was a stark reminder that the Hammers remain well and truly in the thick of this season’s relegation shake-up and indeed will find themselves back in the bottom three if they lose to Bournemouth on Boxing Day.
Delighted with their first win in 10 games, Newcastle rubbed salt in West Ham’s wounds with a cutting jibe about their controversial London Stadium home after the game.
The Magpies’ media team took to Twitter to celebrate the win saying: “The Newcastle United fans are making themselves right at home at the London Stadium after a superb win!
“It’s almost as if they own the place.”
The tongue in cheek comment is a clear nod to the controversy around the stadium’s ownership and the fact it was paid for by the taxpayer.
As anchor tenants West Ham pay a rent of £2.5 million per season and only had to find £15 million towards conversion costs after the Olympic Games.
On the whole Hammers fans are deeply unhappy with how the move has panned out and feel promises over retractable seating, distance between the stands and the pitch and atmosphere have been broken by the club.
West Ham also pledged the move would elevate them to the next level and allow them to spend big in the transfer market, none of which has materialised since they left their beloved Upton Park last summer.
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