Eddie Howe rues Newcastle's missed opportunity to close the gap on Arsenal and Chelsea in the top four after shock West Ham home defeat

Eddie Howe said his Newcastle side are ‘kicking themselves’ after they blew the chance to move within a point of Arsenal and Chelsea with a shock defeat to West Ham.

Newcastle were left stunned after Tomas Soucek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka struck at St James’ Park to relieve the pressure on Hammers boss Julen Lopetegui.

Victory for Howe’s side would have moved them within touching distance of the Champions League spots and just two points behind Manchester City.

‘That’s a massive frustration,’ said Howe. ‘The league is so tight that a couple of wins and the whole picture looks different so we kick ourselves tonight because we knew the opportunity we had at home, potentially a great moment for us in our season.

‘We haven’t grabbed the games and these moments as well as we could have done. We have to learn from that and come back stronger.’

Howe thought his side should have had a penalty in the second half when Callum Wilson went down under the challenge of Konstantinos Mavropanos but the referee and VAR waved away the protests.

West Ham’s 2-0 victory will provide much needed relief for under-fire boss Julen Lopetegui

Tomas Soucek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka scored for the visitors to move them up to 14th-place

‘I’ve only looked at it once, live, and I thought it was a really good shout for a penalty,’ added Howe. ‘Someone might tell me different, but I thought it was a really good chance.’

West Ham’s victory lifts the growing pressure on Lopetegui, who before the game laughed off speculation during the international break that he had two games to save his job starting at St James’ Park before the visit of Arsenal at the weekend.

‘It was good that the players showed they are able to fight for all the things we are able to have at this level,’ said Lopetegui. ‘You can win or lose, but I think we have to believe in us and to think that we are able to play this kind of match.’

Lopetegui will serve a touchline ban for the Arsenal game on Saturday after picking up his third yellow card of the season for remonstrating with the officials at St James’ Park.

West Ham forward Jarrod Bowen insisted the players were still fighting for their manager. ‘I think we should be pushing for European football every year,’ he said.

‘We have a really good manager and great players who feel they get achieve things and haven’t quite hit those levels yet, but it’s not for the want of trying – and that’s driven by the manager.’