West Ham produced a superb second-half comeback to beat Newcastle United 4-2 in a thrilling match at St James' Park on Sunday.
David Moyes' side, who finished sixth in the Premier League least season, started the new campaign in impressive fashion — but not after being given a scare by the Magpies.
Newcastle — whose new £22 million ($30.4m) signing Joe Willock was watching from the stands after failing to register for his new club in time to play — took a fifth-minute lead after French attacker Allan Saint-Maximin turned Declan Rice inside out and crossed for Callum Wilson to head home his ninth goal in 11 career top-flight games against West Ham.
The Hammers deservedly levelled when Aaron Cresswell's low cross drifted across the box, evading the lunge of Tomas Soucek before Jarrod Bowen tapped in after the ball had crossed the line. An offside flag was raised against Bowen but the goal stood after consulting VAR.
Bowen had an excellent opportunity after ghosting past several Newcastle defenders only to be denied by goalkeeper Freddie Woodman on his debut.
Wilson’s cheeky backheel was kept out by Lukasz Fabianski while Miguel Almiron’s shot deflected on to the top of the crossbar as the match swung from one end of the pitch to the other.
Newcastle retook the lead five minutes before half-time when Matt Ritchie supplied a superb cross from the left that was headed home by Jacob Murphy.
But it was West Ham who took charge of the game in the second half. In the 53rd minute, Said Benrahma headed home at the back post after a fine left-footed cross by Michail Antonio.
Antonio then saw a bullet header cannon off the bar from point-blank range and ricochet back into the penalty area where Murphy then clumsily chopped down Pablo Fornals. Woodman went the right way and saved Antonio's penalty, but couldn't prevent Soucek bundling home the rebound after 63 minutes.
Three minutes later and it was four when West Ham launched another counter-attack and Antonio thumped home, equalling Paolo di Canio's record tally in the Premier League for the Hammers.
“I really enjoyed it, I thought we played well in the first half and if you come here in front of 50,000 supporters and go a goal down after three minutes, we showed a lot of character,” said West Ham manager David Moyes.
“We gave Newcastle a bit of a leg up with the goal before half-time, we did not deserve to go 2-1 behind. We kept at it, the players who performed really well last season have started well this season.”
Newcastle manager Steve Bruce admitted his side had paid the price for lapses at the back. “Defensively we've got to be better,” he said. “For me, the big turning point is the penalty.
"I know we've made a big thing of VAR, for the life of me I can't understand why the referee who is 10 yards away can't just come and check because I think he comes and checks then he thinks differently.
“It was a decent game in the first half, but defensively we have to admit we have to be better.”
FA Cup fifth round draw
Sheffield Wednesday v Manchester City
Reading/Cardiff City v Sheffield United
Chelsea v Shrewsbury Town/Liverpool
West Bromwich Albion v Newcastle United/Oxford United
Leicester City v Coventry City/Birmingham City
Northampton Town/Derby County v Manchester United
Southampton/Tottenham Hotspur v Norwich City
Portsmouth v Arsenal
Brief scores
Barcelona 2
Pique 36', Alena 87'
Villarreal 0
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Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
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Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
Key facilities
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- 600-seat auditorium
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Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
Rating:**
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The Ashes
Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
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The%20Afghan%20connection
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
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Our family matters legal consultant
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AndhaDhun
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Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
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Fresh faces in UAE side
Khalifa Mubarak (24) An accomplished centre-back, the Al Nasr defender’s progress has been hampered in the past by injury. With not many options in central defence, he would bolster what can be a problem area.
Ali Salmeen (22) Has been superb at the heart of Al Wasl’s midfield these past two seasons, with the Dubai club flourishing under manager Rodolfo Arrubarrena. Would add workrate and composure to the centre of the park.
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HER%20FIRST%20PALESTINIAN
Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
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Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
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Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
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Super Saturday race card
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5.10pm: Nad Al Sheba Turf Group 3 | $350,000 | (Turf) | 1,200m
5.45pm: Burj Nahaar Group 3 | $350,000 | (D) | 1,600m
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Friday February 18: v Ireland
Saturday February 19: v Germany
Monday February 21: v Philippines
Tuesday February 22: semi-finals
Thursday February 24: final
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Jack Moore: Why the assassination is such a monumental gamble
Matthew Levitt: Iran retains its ability to launch terror attacks
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8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh170,000 (D) 1,900m
8.50pm: Rated Conditions (TB) Dh240,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh175,000 (D)1,200m
10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
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Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
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NBA FINALS SO FAR
(Toronto lead 3-2 in best-of-seven series)
Game 1 Raptors 118 Warriors 109
Game 2 Raptors 104 Warriors 109
Game 3 Warriors 109 Raptors 123
Game 4 Warriors 92 Raptors 105
Game 5 Raptors 105 Warriors 106
Game 6 Thursday, at Oakland
Game 7 Sunday, at Toronto (if needed)
UJDA CHAMAN
Produced: Panorama Studios International
Directed: Abhishek Pathak
Cast: Sunny Singh, Maanvi Gagroo, Grusha Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla
Rating: 3.5 /5 stars
