West Ham United have made it back-to-back Premier League wins following a 2-0 victory in Saturday’s meeting against Manchester United at the London Stadium.
Off the back of a midweek 5-1 thrashing against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup, West Ham headed into this weekend’s contest seeking to bounce back.
United, meanwhile, claimed a hard-fought point against Liverpool last time out and were looking to build upon that result on Merseyside.
The game’s first effort came in the fifth minute as Emerson Palmieri unleashed a fierce left-foot drive which was comfortably dealt with by Andre Onana.
Having laboured in front of goal for the opening half-hour, Man United finally had a sniff at the West Ham goal in the 32nd minute when Antony curled one straight at Alphonse Areola.
United’s maiden effort of the game was soon followed by a second which perhaps should have seen Erik ten Hag’s men take the lead after Alejandro Garnacho failed to get the better of Areola from a one-on-one situation.
Making his fourth league start of the season, Kobe Mainoo nearly broke the deadlock six minutes before the interval when his long-range strike travelled through a host of bodies before calling Areola into action.
Thomas Soucek got on the end of a James Ward-Prowse delivery in the first-half stoppage time but his effort flew harmlessly wide of Onana’s goal.
That brought an end to a relatively uneventful first half where neither team was able to muster any sustained attacking impetus.
Shortly after threatening the United goal from a set-piece just before the interval, West Ham’s opening attempt of the second period came from a dead-ball situation with Jarrod Bowen getting on the end of Ward-Prowse’s cross, only for the Englishman to be denied by Onana.
After some good work from Bruno Fernandes, a last-gasp intervention from Kurt Zouma denied Garnacho from tapping home from close range midway through the second half.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 72nd minute as Bowen latched on to an exquisite pass from Lucas Paqueta to unleash a strike initially saved by Onana before Bowen fortuitously tucked home the rebound.
David Moyes’s men doubled their lead six minutes later through Kudus who was played in on goal by Paqueta following an error from Mainoo after which the Ghanaian found the bottom corner with aplomb.
With United in desperate need of a recovery, Sergio Reguilon and Christian Eriksen were introduced for the final knockings of the game, albeit all to no avail, as West Ham held on to claim a well-deserved victory.
The Hammers have now leapfrogged Man United in the Premier League table and currently sit sixth in the standings, four points adrift of Manchester City in fourth.
