Remember the crisis at Newcastle United, the jibes about Kevin Keegan, the bewilderment of the black and white army? The horrors have been banished and the pain erased to the point that everyone can laugh about it.

“A couple of months ago we would have lost this match 4-0,” Steve Harper, the Newcastle goalkeeper, said. The joke is, of course, that it is no joke. Newcastle would have lost. “We got ourselves back into it,” Harper said. “As bad as we were at the start of the game, we put it right.”

The Newcastle players have found their backbone and will face Chelsea next Monday on a run of seven match- es unbeaten and after a nine-day rest. “Although we are tired as we’re not used to coming down south and playing in this heat.” Harper said as the jokes just kept on coming.

Keegan said: “I wouldn’t question the character any more. I did question it early on. Why does a goal knock you back so much? Why have you got this lack of belief in each other?”

Sir Alex Ferguson will no doubt be listening intently. The Manchester United manager would like Chelsea to face a Newcastle team bursting with pride. “I was not worried when we went 2-0 down,” Gérémi, the former Chelsea midfield player, said. “At the beginning of the season I would have been, but now we have a lot more confidence. We have a manager who says, ‘Whatever happens continue to fight’ – and that is what happened.

“I am looking forward to playing Chelsea. It will be a good test to see whether we can challenge for the top six next season. When you play against a former team, you want to play well. I am a Newcastle player and I want to fight to win this match.”

You can almost picture Ferguson with a satisfied smile. But it works both ways. West Ham United are in mid-table and Ferguson’s team face them at Old Trafford on Saturday. Robert Green, the West Ham goalkeeper, has promised to give the reigning champions a good game.

“I have no preference as to who wins the league,” Green said. “But the last thing you want to do is turn up and be accused of rolling over. It will be a hell of an atmosphere.”

West Ham picked Newcastle apart in the opening 25 minutes. Mark Noble swept in George McCartney’s cross for the first goal and Dean Ashton used his strength and balance for the second. Keegan was so concerned by the attacks down Newcastle’s right flank that he moved Michael Owen to midfield. “He’d do anything for the team,” Keegan said. “And he did it; they lost some of their momentum.”

Newcastle’s reward was two goals, with Obafemi Martins taking advantage of a defensive lapse for the first, before his effort pinged in off Gérémi’s head for the equaliser.

West Ham United (4-4-2): R Green 6 - J Pantsil 4, L Neill 5, J Tomkins 5, G McCartney 6 – J Faubert 5 (sub: N Solano, 90min), S Parker 6, M Noble 7, F Ljungberg 5 (sub: L Boa Morte, 22 4) – R Zamora 5 (sub: C Cole, 67 5), D Ashton 7. Substitutes not used: J Walker, H Mullins. Booked: Faubert, Pantsil. Next: Manchester United (a).

Newcastle United (4-3-1-2): S Harper 6 – H Beye 5, S Taylor 5, D Edgar 5 (sub: L Diatta, 90), J Enrique 4 – Gérémi 5, N Butt 6, J Barton 6 – M Owen 6 – O Martins 7, M Viduka 4 (sub: A Smith, 81). Substitutes not used: F Forster, D Duff, A Carroll.Booked: Martins, Beye, Butt. Next: Chelsea (h).