A spirited West Ham side crashed out of the FA Cup after conceding an extra-time Scott McTominay goal to Manchester United. The Hammers were dominated for most of the game and created few chances of their own.
Team News
David Moyes named three changes to the side that drew against Fulham on the weekend. Mark Noble, Andriy Yarmolenko and Pablo Fornals returned to the starting line-up. Yarmolenko was to play as the striker as Michail Antonio did not travel to Manchester for the match.
There was place on the bench for former Red Devil, Ademipo Obudeko. The young striker has a lot of backing from fans and pundits but is yet to be fully trusted by Moyes. There was, however, no place for Jesse Lingard who was cup-tied, after turning out for Manchester United in an earlier round of the cup.
The rest of the team was the Hammers standard starting eleven. Tomas Soucek was amongst the starters after his red-card against Fulham was rescinded. Moyes had chosen a strong enough team to cause Manchester United problems if they played to their potential.
West Ham were without star striker Michail Antonio as they lost to Manchester United in the FA Cup.
Match Report
Manchester United started the better side of the two. The Red Devils were dominating possession and forcing the hammers into their own half. Moyes’ side were trying to break out on occasion, but their passing was lacking quality.
United carved out the first chance of the game as Alex Telles played in Anthony Martial. The French striker had his effort blocked by Angelo Ogbonna. The Italian defender did well to stop the shot but took a knock to his ankle in doing so.
With Ogbonna off the pitch, the Hammers were down to ten men. United almost took advantage of the fact as a block denied Mason Greenwood from Aaron Cresswell. Eventually, Craig Dawson cleared the ball, and Issa Diop was introduced into the action.
After the injury, West Ham seemed happy to sit deep and invite pressure on themselves. United were throwing players forward in the hope of the opening goal. The Hammers were unable to get hold of the ball for a prolonged period of time.
United almost got the breakthrough in the 26th minute. Telles whipped in a corner; the ball evaded Harry Maguire but not Victor Lindelof. The Swede headered the ball goalwards and Lukasz Fabianski managed to get a fingertip on the ball to knock it onto the post.
The Hammers did improve as the first-half neared its end. West Ham managed to have come possession of the ball inside the hosts half. Crosses from Vladimir Coufal, Cresswell and Yarmolenko did cause some issues, but the Hammers didn’t manage to find a shot to trouble Dean Henderson.
Second Half
Moyes made two changes at half-time. Ryan Fredericks and Ben Johnson replaced Jarrod Bowen and Issa Diop. The manager changed the shape of the side to deal with the threat of United. It did mean that Dawson was the only natural centre-back on the pitch for the Hammers.
Despite an improvement from West Ham, it was United who carved out the first chance of the half. Rashford was denied at point-blank range by Fabianski. Moyes was then forced into another substitution as Yarmolenko was struggling with injury. It meant a chance for Obudeko who was sent on in his place.
Having more defenders on the pitch seemed to be working for the Hammers. The team’s play was sharper and quicker. Johnson impressed down the left-side. The full-back was getting forward and causing a few problems for the United defence.
Ther improvement from the visitors saw Ole Gunnar Solskjær make his first changes of the game. Scott McTominay and Bruno Fernandes replaced Nemanja Matic and Donny Van Der Beek. The Portuguese attacker made the difference between the sides in the Premier League fixture earlier in the season.
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Heading into the final ten minutes, United were on top. Martial headered wide from a good position. The Hammers were still in the match but lacked fluency in their play once they got into the United half.
Both sides sensed a winner and sent on attackers. Solskjær replaced Greenwood with Edinson Cavani, and Moyes replaced Fornals with Said Benrahma. However, no side could make the breakthrough before the full-time whistle, sending the game into extra time.
Extra Time
United grabbed the opening goal of the game seven minutes into extra-time. A quick counter-attack was not dealt with properly. Rashford laid off the ball to McTominay who hammered the ball past Fabianski.
West Ham did react to going behind and tried to get themselves back into the tie. But like much of the game, they struggled to create any clear chances on the United goal.
In the second half of extra time, Moyes made his last roll of the dice. Manuel Lanzini came on for the last ten minutes in place of fellow substitute Obudeko. The youngster had given himself a good account of himself but was largely outmuscled.
Benrahma wasted a glorious chance to level the scores. Johnson whipped in a good cross but the Algerian headered straight at Henderson. However, it would have been ruled out for offside by VAR.
The Hammers continued to try to get level but could not break down a solid United backline. The full-time whistle went, and that was that for West Ham’s cup run for this year.