Christian Atsu outshines Andre Ayew as Newcastle United halt West Ham United's run

Christian Atsu was on song to help Newcastle United to a 3-2 win over West Ham United at the London Stadium on Saturday.

Atsu scored a goal and created an assist for Senegal's Mohamed Diame. While his compatriot Andre Ayew made up for his penalty miss with an effort of his own, which, eventually, was not enough as David Moyes' side were unable to stretch their unbeaten run to four games.

The Hammers went ahead in the sixth minute through Marco Arnautovic after an error from Henri Saviet. Four minutes later, the French midfielder made amend for his mistake with a brilliantly-taken freekick as the two sides went into the break levelled.

In the 53rd minute, Diame scored the second for the Magpies against his former side, all thanks to the brilliance of Atsu. The Ghana winger mesmerised his way past West Ham right-back Pablo Zabaleta before laying for the midfielder to give the visitors the lead for the first time in the encounter.

The former Chelsea man soon got a goal of his - coming after Ayew saw his effort from 12 yards saved by Newcastle's Rob Elliot. Atsu showed good understanding with Joselu before slotting home to make it 3-1 in the 61st minute. Afterwards, Ayew redeemed himself from a rebound as the match ended 3-2.

This comes as a huge relief for Rafael Benitez's side whom, prior to the encounter, have lost eight out of nine Premier League games since beating Crystal Palace back in October. The St. James' Park outfit have already lost four times in December and at their fifth attempt, they halted West Ham's juggernaut.

The goal was Atsu's first since his effort in the victory over Stoke City on September 16, while his Ghana teammate now has three goals to his name. This term, the former has appeared in 15 English Premier League matches while the latter has played a game more.