(Football news) Manchester United scored twice in the second half to secure their greatest home victory of the season, thanks to goals from Alejandro Garnacho and a spectacular debut goal from 21-year-old Rasmus Hojlund midway through the first half.
Although West Ham had numerous opportunities, especially in the first half, they were eventually without a decisive advantage in the last third and their six-game unbeaten streak in the top division came to an end as a result.
Before play began, Erik ten Hag’s team was in eighth place after Brighton & Hove Albion’s victory against Crystal Palace on Saturday. However, after defeating West Ham, they moved up to sixth place, eight points behind the top four but still ahead of the Hammers.
David Moyes’s side, meanwhile, have slipped down to seventh spot as a result of their defeat at Old Trafford and sit two points behind Manchester United.
The headline team news from Manchester United’s perspective prior to kickoff was the return of Harry Maguire in central defence, with the Englishman – starting his first game since mid-December – replacing Raphael Varane to partner Lisandro Martinez, who passed a late fitness test to retain his starting spot.
As for West Ham, Moyes opted to make two changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Bournemouth on Thursday, with Manchester City loanee Kalvin Phillips and Konstantinos Mavropanos replaced by Vladimir Coufal, who returned from suspension, and Nayef Aguerd, who made his comeback after representing Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Both teams got off to a fairly sloppy start as they warmed up to the windy conditions at Old Trafford after a politely observed moment of applause to mark the 66th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster. West Ham applied good pressure while Man United controlled play from midfield.
In the eleventh minute, Tomas Soucek flicked on a header that bounced off Edson Alvarez and into the net, giving West Ham their first opportunity of the match. This forced Andre Onana to make an instinctive one-handed save to his left inside the six-yard box.
Bruno Fernandes then tested Alphonse Areola from range with a dipping shot before an effort from Soucek deflected narrowly wide for a corner, but the Red Devils soon went up the other end to break the deadlock courtesy of a superb strike from Hojlund on the 23-minute mark.
Casemiro did brilliantly to regain possession inside West Ham’s half and his unorthodox interception was collected by Hojlund, who swivelled and shifted the ball onto his weaker right foot before rifling a powerful shot from the edge of the area into the bottom-left corner.
There was no change to West Ham’s offensive approach following Manchester United’s opener and they continued to drive forward with intent when in possession; Ben Johnson’s strike from distance was palmed to safety by Onana shortly before a tame header from Mohammed Kudus – a livewire down the left flank – was comfortably collected by the Red Devils’ shot-stopper.
West Ham ended the first 45 the stronger of the two teams but failed to register any decent attempts on goal, while Hojlund concluded the half by firing a strike from a tight angle narrowly wide of the near post.
There was a change in goal for West Ham for the second half as Lukasz Fabianski replaced Areola, who was unable to recover from a knock sustained during a collision with Zouma midway through the first half.
Just three minutes after the break, Manchester United received a huge let-off as Maguire was clumsily caught in possession by Emerson Palmieri inside his own half, but the Hammers left-back lacked composure when it mattered and scuffed his effort high over the crossbar after bursting through down the left channel.
That missed chance proved costly as the Red Devils went straight up the other end to double their advantage thanks to Garnacho, whose deflected strike from the right side of the penalty area flew past a flat-footed Fabianski at his near post.
The momentum was certainly with Manchester United and they immediately pushed for a third, with Marcus Rashford drifting inside from the left and firing his shot wide of the far post, before Diogo Dalot curled a 25-yard effort just over the crossbar.
West Ham, who only struck three of their 22 shots on target, struggled to carve out any clear-cut chances in the second period until a ball over the top of United’s backline was pounced upon by Jarrod Bowen, but Dalot made an excellent recovery run to slide and block the shot from the Hammers attacker.
Either side of that West Ham chance, Martinez went down in agony on two occasions in the space of five minutes holding his knee; Ten Hag decided to take no chances with the Argentine’s fitness and brought on Varane in his place.
Moyes made two changes of his own with Phillips and Maxwel Cornet taking the places of Soucek and Coufal; Phillips had a pop at goal just a few minutes after entering the field but blazed his effort from range well over, shortly after Cornet shanked a shot into a crowded penalty box towards Kurt Zouma, who could only direct his scuffed effort a few yards wide.
West ham continued to push forward in their attempts to pull one back, but Man United put the game to bed six minutes from time when Garnacho slotted a right-footed shot into the far corner after receiving a sweet through-ball from substitute Scott McTominay.
In stoppage time, McTominay missed a close-range opportunity to score a fourth goal when he curled a low drive from the edge of the box, but United ultimately had to settle with a well-earned three-goal triumph to increase their chances of qualifying for Europe.
Next Sunday, Manchester United will try to make it three straight Premier League wins when they visit Aston Villa, a team predicted to finish in the top four, in the West Midlands. Meanwhile, West Ham will play title rivals Arsenal at the London Stadium to see how strong they are.
Also read: Arsenal defeat Liverpool 3-1 in EPL
