West Ham finally banish their opening day blues.

West Ham finally banish their opening day blues. 

The opening day of any new Premier League football season is normally a time for clean slates, new beginnings, pitches that resemble baize green snooker tables and players whose heads have been completely turned by mouth watering wages at other clubs. Jack Grealish became the first £100 million player and even in hindsight it still seems criminally insane. Harry Kane, who grew up with Tottenham in his blood vessels, has allegedly expressed his desire to win trophies and Manchester City seem the logical choice. 

But come August time and the start of the season is reminiscent of a village fete. The balmy heat of late summer is still drifting languidly through the terraces and stands of most Premier League grounds and there are local jars of jam to be gratefully acquired. If you hit the coconut then you might be fortunate to win the goldfish and then there's the incentive of claiming first prize for the largest marrow on display. Football though means so much more than local rivalries and the capture of big trophies remains the ultimate objective. 

Always though there is an air of sedateness and serenity about those opening fixtures that suggest nothing matters as such as long as your team aren't thrashed or heavily beaten. In the first games  of the season over the weekend there were liberal sprinklings of threes, fours and fives but none seemed unduly concerned. Leeds were ripped apart by Manchester United where United's 5-1 victory against their Pennine neighbours probably sent a brief shock wave through Marcello Bielsa's team but nothing more.

Spurs, for their part, are under new management in Nuno Esperito Santo and have finally rid themselves of the nightmare who was Jose Mourinho. Yesterday at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, Nuno's new charges frightened the living daylights out of Premier League champions Manchester City. Son Heung Min shifted and cut inside his defender with some conviction before cracking a rocket of a shot that soared past the City keeper for Spurs winner and only goal.

At Stamford Bridge meanwhile Tomas Tuchel, now idolised by the Chelsea faithful, opened his team's account with a conclusively impressive 3-0 victory over Patrick Viera's Crystal Palace. The European Champions are feeling pretty chipper at the moment and there was a well varnished polish in the way they demolished Palace. In some quarters there are some who believe that Chelsea have the necessary resources to win the Premier League but then there is a long way to go and anything can happen. 

Meanwhile, your claret and blue flawed geniuses West Ham United must have thought all their birthdays had come at once. Normally those of a happy Hammers allegiance would normally be dreading the prospect of early August days. In recent seasons there have been five goal thrashings by Manchester City, defeat at Chelsea, four conceded at Manchester United and little of any substance to make the team from the London Stadium feel any better about themselves.

But yesterday marked a radical departure from the norm. Maybe it had been something in the air at Newcastle but West Ham reaped a bumper harvest of goals ensuring a 4-2 victory against Newcastle United. Now the chances are that this could have been a one off, an unexpected surprise or perhaps West Ham have been lulled into a false sense of security. Besides you have supported this unpredictable team for longer as you care to remember and, as such have been hardened to setbacks and inherent traumas. 

Still, beggars can't be choosers and since West Ham always seem to have come a cropper against Newcastle in recent seasons, this was a welcome break in the sequence. Yesterday West Ham produced by far their best performance away from home for ages. In the old days West Ham would have crumbled against the roaring cheers and vociferous voices at the Gallowgate End of St James Park. But there are no Wor Jackie Milburns, Len Shackletons or more recently Alan Shearer for the likes of West Ham to be terrified of. 

These days St James Park can be both intimidating and overwhelmingly noisy. But then you mention owner Mike Ashley's name and as if on cue, the whole of the North East begin to boil over with righteous indignation, furious at Ashley's air of misplaced contentment, a sense that there can be no reason to panic and all will be well. Frequently the Newcastle fans have stormed the barricades and privately wondered whether they'll ever win anything again. The coal mines and collieries that once flourished are no longer thriving  and Newcastle are desperate for success on the football pitch. 

Yesterday if only briefly, it all looked very rosy complexioned and heading in the right direction. Newcastle did take the lead after only a few minutes but that was merely a mirage. Newcastle's wizard-cum magician Alan Saint Maximim, another French ball playing artist, teased and tormented West Ham's Declan Rice, turning one way and then another before clipping the ball back into the West Ham six yard area, where Callum Wilson, West Ham's bad omen and nemesis, headed firmly past Lukasz Fabianksi the West Ham keeper. 

With Jacob Murphy, Emil Krafth and Ciaran Clark all prepared to break forward at pace for Newcastle, the home side seemed to have turned a corner. Newcastle had the bit between the teeth, a sense of menace in their nostrils and an acute awareness of just how important a role their devoted fans, now back for the first time since March 2020, would have on their team's fortunes. But then it all became slightly laboured and awkward, the ball travelling very slowly and stuck in treacle at times. Still,as Newcastle kept pushing and pressing, hemming the visitors back into their own half but not really impressing as such. 

West Ham, for their part, were in the mood to upset the apple cart, flicking the ball nonchalantly between themselves, passing with immaculate precision. After another strikingly attractive build up just outside the Newcastle penalty area, the ball was moved swiftly. A combination of Michal Antonio's marvellous shielding of the ball allowed Said Benrahma to indulge in yet another game of Pass the Parcel and when the ball found Aaron Cresswell, the defender hit the ball low past Newcastle keeper Freddie Woodman. VAR might have shown that Jarrod Bowen had been offside when he slid the ball into the net but the West Ham equaliser was confirmed. 

Newcastle though were undeterred and responded admirably even though there was an evident bluntness about their football. When the brilliant Miguel Almiron found space out on the flank, the mercurial Paraguayan turned on a six pence, laying off the ball perceptively to the equally as ambitious Matt Ritchie.The cross fell perfectly to Jacob Murphy who headed home almost apologetically, the ball looping over Fabianski in the West Ham net for Newcastle's second goal. 

All appeared well and tickety boo at the start of the second half. Newcastle were fired up, pumped up and revving up their engines. As an attacking force it looked as if the second half for West Ham would be the most thankless of assignments. They were up against it and they knew what was in store. But the onslaught never came for the home side and West Ham snatched the ball back and never seemingly let go of it.

When Vladimir Coufal, the West Ham full back. galloped towards the by line, Newcastle seemed to freeze almost immediately. Coufal's chip across goal found Antonio again and his header seemed to bounce back off the post and straight to Fornals who was now apparently bumped over by a Newcastle defender. The Newcastle team en masse protested their innocence but a penalty had been awarded and Antonio's penalty was easily saved by Newcastle keeper Woodman. Tomas Soucek, almost anticipating the miss, came charging in to tuck the ball home for West Ham's second equaliser. 

After a brief claret and blue flourish where the ball seemed to be jealously guarded and neatly distributed at all times, West Ham now took the lead for the first time in the match. Another quickfire exchange of passes found Michal Antonio out on the wing again. The now reinvented West Ham striker flighted the ball beautifully across to Said Benhrama, who, in acres of space, headed the ball downwards into the net.

On the hour point, Newcastle collapsed like seaside sandcastles. The impetus they had generated before, had now fizzled out and West Ham devoured the home side, hungry for three points and a measure of revenge for last season's two defeats by Newcastle. By now Jarred Bowen, the superbly authoritative Tomas Soucek and the equally as measured Pablo Fornals were picking up loose Newcastle possession and hunting in packs. There was a renewed clarity about West Ham's attacking philosophy. Their passing game had now assumed a life of its own and the counter attacking approach left Newcastle in no man's land. 

With the game now psychologically lost, Newcastle back pedalled in an cowardly and craven retreat into their shells. Breaking out of defence, West Ham spooned the ball forward to Benrahma and the new favourite among the West Ham faithful, spotting Antonio with almost the entire pitch left vacant by Newcastle, fed a glorious diagonal pass into Antonio's path. West Ham's now prolific goal scorer manoeuvred into position, thumped the ball home emphatically into the net and West Ham were home and dry.

There are times as a West Ham loyalist when you might have been tempted to simply give up and somehow despair of your chosen football team. But now West Ham have several distractions on their mind and the rot has now been stopped on the opening day of a new football season. Maybe just maybe this could be West Ham's season of seasons to discuss until the small hours of a Sunday morning. But this is only one game  and the cynical among us have been here before. Next Monday, West Ham face FA Cup winners Leicester City and it may be a case of closing your eyes and hoping for yet another victory. Some of us are almost resigned to the fate of the club because it's somehow become a habit.