West Ham are on the brink of relegation from the Premier League after they fell to a 3-1 defeat to Newcastle United at St James' Park on Sunday.

Nuno Espirito Santo's team travelled to Tyneside knowing a victory would lift them above Tottenham and into 17th place, while any other result would raise the prospect of them being relegated as early as Tuesday.

And a dismal start left them with too much of a mountain to climb as Newcastle went 2-0 up inside 19 minutes.

A loose pass out from Mads Hermansen led to the opening goal in the 15th minute, as Harvey Barnes scampered down the right to pick out Nick Woltemade, who applied the finishing touch on the volley for his first league goal since Christmas.

The second goal was a thing of beauty as a one-touch move involving Kieran Trippier, who was playing his final home game for Newcastle, Barnes, Bruno Guimaraes and Jacob Ramsey released William Osula one-v-one. 

He made no mistake with a left-footed finish, leaving a furious Nuno to introduce Valentin Castellanos and ditch his 3-4-3 system only 26 minutes in.

Castellanos and El Hadji Malick Diouf worked Nick Pope before the first half was through, but Newcastle got a third goal 20 minutes into the second period.

Osula tucked into an open goal after exchanging passes with Joe Willock.

Castellanos reduced the arrears with a glorious lob from outside the area four minutes later, and the Argentine's next chance saw him rattle the angle of post and crossbar.

But West Ham were unable to force a grandstand finish, and they may be relegated even before hosting Leeds United next Sunday.

Realistically, given their inferior goal difference, they need to win that match and hope Spurs lose each of their last two.

Data Debrief: Woltemade ends long wait

While West Ham now appear overwhelmingly likely to be in the Championship next season, Newcastle still harbour very slim hopes of qualifying for Europe – they could finish eighth if they beat Fulham next weekend and several other results go their way.

Woltemade got them up and running by ending his 17-game goal drought in the Premier League, having last netted in a 2-2 draw with Chelsea on December 20.

Osula has started ahead of Woltemade on several occasions lately, and, at the age of 22 years and 286 days, he became the youngest player to score a Premier League brace for Newcastle since Kenedy against Southampton in March 2018 (22 years, 30 days).

Through Hermansen in this match and Alphonse Areola against Bournemouth in November, West Ham are only the third team to have two different goalkeepers provide an assist in a single season, after Derby County in 1996-97 (Mart Poom and Russell Hoult) and Newcastle in 2012-13 (Tim Krul and Robert Elliot), but that will be no consolation for Nuno.