Wasteful West Ham Made Punished Clinical Manchester United

Manchester United’s second-half flurry of three goals in thirteen minutes was enough to give them the points against a wasteful West Ham.

There was one change to the West Ham side that beat Aston Villa on Monday. Michail Antonio dropped out of the squad due to injury, and Sebastien Haller took the responsibility of leading the line. Robert Snodgrass claimed the empty spot on the bench for the game despite his limited minutes this season.

The biggest change for the match was the return of fans to the London Stadium. Two thousand lucky made the trip back to the ground for the first time since the Hammers win over Southampton last season.

MATCH REPORT

West Ham had an early chance to take the lead. Arthur Masuaku fired in a deep cross which found Jarrod Bowen. The winger cut inside and had a dangerous shot blocked by Victor Lindelof. Bowen did get a second bite of the cherry but hit his shot high and wide.

Bowen thought he had put the Hammers ahead in the eighth minute after running on to a Vladimir Coufal long pass. Despite the good finish, Bowen was clearly offside and was caught by the linesman.

The Hammers had definitely started the better of the two sides. David Moyes’ side were pressing well and causing the Red Devils plenty of issues. Pablo Fornals and Haller both looked as though they were trying to prove that they deserved their starting positions.

The next chance of the game fell to Fornals. Bowen did brilliantly on the right-wing gliding past multiple United players. The 23-year-old played a great ball across the face of goal. Fornals managed to get on the end of the cross but could only direct his header into the side netting.

The Spaniard was in the thick of it and went even closer a couple of minutes later. Fabian Balbuena won the ball and laid it off to Bowen. The Englishman charged forward and crossed to Haller. The Ivorian flicked the ball to Fornals, whose toe-poke went through the legs of a United defender and hit the post.

West Ham made their next chance count. From an Aaron Cresswell corner, Declan Rice flicked his header to the back post. Tomas Soucek had made a brilliant run to tap home and give the Hammers deserved lead.

Haller then had a great chance to double the lead immediately. Fornals played the Ivorian clear through. Haller rounded Henderson perfectly; the United defence did get back, forcing the striker to cut back. Just as Haller was about to shot, he lost his footing and lost the chance. There was a question mark, however, if the striker was onside or not, which could save his blushes.

United started to show some life and could have scored a great equaliser. Birthday boy Anthony Martial fired a brilliant effort towards the Hammers goal. Lukasz Fabianski who has been a spectator so far then made a great save to preserve the lead.

SECOND-HALF

Ole Gunnar Solskjær had seen enough from his side and made a double change at the break. Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford were called upon. The star duo replaced Edinson Cavani and Donny van der Beek. Moyes kept his impressive Hammers side unchanged.

West Ham almost started the second half perfectly. Coufal ran into the United box unchallenged and played a great low-cross across the area. Bowen reached it but couldn’t get his shot on target. Moyes’ will be hoping that his team take one of these chances soon.

United almost made the Irons pay for their missed chances soon after. Rashford played a dangerous pass to Scott McTominay. The Scottish midfielder’s shot, like Bowen’s, rippled the side netting with Fabianski at full-stretch.

Solskjær was then forced into making his final change of the match on the hour mark. Martial was clearly struggling with an injury and was replaced by veteran Juan Mata.

After coming back into the contest, the United found themselves level in sublime fashion. A long boot up the pitch form Henderson found Fernandes. The Portuguese passed to Pogba who fired a rocket from thirty-yards passed Fabianksi and into the goal. VAR did check if the ball had gone out of play from Henderson’s kick but adjudged it to have stayed in.

The Hammers were clearly shellshocked and quickly conceded another goal. Alex Telles crossed the ball into the young Mason Greenwood. The forward controlled the ball well and smashed his shot low and hard past Fabianski to put United into an undeserved lead.

West Ham manager David Moyes would have been furious to see his side losing after seeing a huge amount of chances wasted. The manager would have been even angrier if Rashford had put the visitors out of sight as he hit the post in the 71st minute.

Moyes trying to get West Ham back into the game made a double change. Said Benrahma and Manuel Lanzini replaced Jarrod Bowen and Pablo Fornals. The Argentine would have hoped he could recreate the drama from his stunning goals against Tottenham.

The subs would quickly find their task even harder as Rashford converted his next chance. Mata played the Englishman through with a brilliant first-time pass. Rashford went one-on-on with Fabianski and dinked him to double United’s lead.

Benrahma almost pulled one back for West Ham in the 80th minute. The Algerian collected the ball from a corner and cut onto his right foot. Benrahma hit his shot towards goal, but the looping effort just went over and into the roof of the net.

The Hammers went close again. This time Cresswell forced Henderson into a good save from a free-kick. Lanzini also had a volleyed effort saved by the United stopper as the home side tried to get themselves back into the match.

Moyes made his final change replacing Coufal with academy graduate Ben Johnson in the 84th minute. Rice was the next Hammer to have an effort from distance. McTominay and deflected the England International’s shot straight into the arms of Henderson.

The Hammers continued to push for a second goal to give them some hope. The United defence were able to stand firm and marshall the attack well, much to the small crowd’s frustration.

West Ham may have missed the chance to go third for a small period, but find themselves now in seventh position in the Premier League. Next up is a trip to Leeds United as Moyes will hope his side can return to winning ways.