West Ham’s 14-year stay in the Premier League is almost over.
The London club lost 3-1 at Newcastle on Sunday to stay in the relegation zone and two points from safety with one match left, against Leeds at its Olympic Stadium home in the final round next Sunday.
The Hammers will be relegated before then if Tottenham — the only other team that can mathematically go down — beats Chelsea on Tuesday in the first of its two remaining games.
Tottenham’s second chance is at home to Everton in the final round.
West Ham has been in the top flight since 2012, coming through a number of relegation battles in that time. This one looks beyond the team — three years after it won the Conference League title for its first major trophy since 1980 in a sign of brighter things to come.
Newcastle scored twice in the first 19 minutes, through Nick Woltemade and William Osula. Osula added a third in the 65th before a brilliant long-range consolation by Taty Castellanos, who also hit the crossbar for West Ham.
