West Ham defeated by Manchester United after Dawson own goal
By Fraser Day
West Ham suffer a 1-0 defeat away to Manchester United after Craig Dawson headed into his own net early in the second half. The Hammers poor record at Old Trafford continues after they failed to score in what seemed to be a repeat of the Irons most recent encounter with the Red Devils in the FA Cup.
West Ham Team News
West Ham make three changes to the side that beat Leeds 2-0 last weekend, two of them enforced with Jesse Lingard unable to play against his parent club and Pablo Fornals failing a late fitness test.
The other change is the return of Mark Noble after revealing earlier in the week next season would be his 18th and final season for the Hammers.
Said Benrahma drops to the bench with Ben Johnson, Jarrod Bowen and Noble lining up alongside Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek as Moyes looks to shift to a midfield five.
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Some positive news this week with the return of long term absentee Arthur Masukaku, as well as Andriy Yarmolenko and Angelo Ogbonna now both close to a return to action.
West Ham enter the game off the back of a 2-0 win at home to Leeds, with other results going favourably for the Hammers this weekend with both Everton and Tottenham losing and Chelsea being held to a draw by Leeds.
Manchester United’s record against the Premier League’s top six this season has been fairly disappointing with the home side struggling to pick up wins against the league’s best sides.
The Hammers have had similar struggles with David Moyes team’s only wins coming against Leicester and Everton earlier in the season.
West Ham will be looking for revenge over tonight’s opponents after suffering a 3-1 defeat to the Red Devils in the reverse fixture at the London Stadium, in what was the first game to see fans back in grounds.
An early spell of pressure for West Ham is rewarded by an early corner for the premier leagues set-piece specialists, but the visitors were unable to capitalise on the opportunity.
West Ham United
A menacing ball put into the box by Cresswell 20 minutes into the game caused problems for Dean Henderson as the United keeper was forced to punch away the inswinging cross amongst a group of United and West Ham players.
Manchester United should have taken the lead after 25 minutes when Mason Greenwood cut in from the right-hand side and delivered a pinpoint cross to Marcus Rashford who was unable to make proper contact with the header.
A booking for Aaron Wan Bissaka after the full-back hacked down Michail Antonio who had pushed the ball past the England full-back.
A brilliant save by Lukasz Fabianski just five minutes before half time after Mason Greenwood cut in onto his left foot striking low towards the bottom corner, but the Polish International reacted well diving down to his right to push the shot onto the post.
A tactical change from Moyes in the second half with Johnson swapping to the right-hand side in place of Jarrod Bowen to deal with the threat of Luke Shaw down Manchester United’s left-hand side.
An unfortunate moment for Craig Dawson who heads past Fabianski into his own net after Bruno Fernandes corner narrowly missed the head of Scott Mctominay.
Another brilliant fingertip save from Fabianski after Fernandes powerful first time shot curled away from the Polish keeper towards the bottom corner but the outstretched hand of the keeper was able to force the shot wide.
After going 1-0 down Moyes made the inevitable double change with Benrahma and Lanzini replacing Noble and Johnson as the Hammers searched for a response.
Bowen had a perfect chance to equalise soon after the double change with Cresswell delivering the perfect cross but Bowen’s header was wide of the post despite being just yards from goal.
Yet another chance fell to Mason Greenwood after West Ham were caught up the pitch with the young forwards sliced shot bouncing off the post.
The line up was defensive from Moyes and had Craig Dawson not headed into his own net most fans would have been more than happy with a point. But given how much better the Hammers were after the changes its difficult to see why the likes of Benrahma and Lanzini were left out of the side given United’s defensive frailties in recent weeks.
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A positive end to a game that was expectedly boring for the majority as the Hammers look ahead to next weeks game against Arsenal hoping they can continue their push for Europe.