Mo makes his mark

After Marko Arnautovic’s opener and Henri Saivet’s leveller at the London Stadium, Diamé’s well-taken strike put United 2-1 up after the break.

Goalkeeper Rob Elliot pulled off a fine save to keep out Andre Ayew’s penalty before Christian Atsu added a third for the Magpies, and despite Ayew snatching a consolation, Rafa Benítez’s side held on to claim the points.

And Diamé – who has now scored against old clubs Wigan Athletic, Hull City and the Hammers since joining Newcastle – admitted it was a relief to finally pick up a victory, and to bag his first goal of the season in the process.

“I used to always score against my old teams when I play against them, so it was a great moment for me,” the 30-year-old told nufc.co.uk. “I’m happy, because I was in a bad situation after a lot of bad performances for myself, so today it’s nice to win and to score this goal.

“We feel really good. It’s been a long time now since we’ve had this feeling – this winning feeling – so it’s good for us to get back winning.

“When you are in a bad run like we were and losing or drawing, we always talk about the same thing – working hard and working harder. It’s what we’ve done, and today I thought we deserved to win this game. We have been fighting together, and it was difficult when they brought on Andy Carroll – he was tough, trying to get the first and second balls – but we are happy today for this win.”

Attentions now turn to the visit of Premier League leaders Manchester City on Wednesday, 27^th December.

United also have another home game before the end of the year, against Brighton in a week’s time, and Diamé is hopeful that the win against David Moyes’ side will put a spring in the Magpies’ step for the remainder of the festive period.

“It’s important, because we need to build from this game now,” he said. “The performance of the team was good. I thought we got to 3-1 and after maybe should have dealt better with the situation, but the most important thing was to win, and we did that. We now have to prepare for Manchester City because it’s coming very quickly, and again try to get points from these games.

“It’s what we needed. Everyone knows we have the fans pushing us, but it’s important that the players on the pitch try to push on the team and the players next to them to make sure they give everything, because we’ve seen that we have to give everything if we want to win games.

“We are in a good way – we have to keep working now, and build from this game.”