West Ham Into Fourth After Comfortable Victory Over Pitiful Man United
22nd September 2019
Andriy Yarmolenko's goal shortly before half-time and a wonderful late Aaron Cresswell free-kick extended United's barren run on the road
- West Ham inflicted more away-day pain on a poor Manchester United side on Sunday, lifting themselves to fourth in the Premier League with a comfortable 2-0 win at the London Stadium
- United, who started the season by thumping Chelsea 4-0, have lost twice already in their opening six league games and lie seventh, without an away win in any competition since March.
- Injury-hit United were without midfielder Paul Pogba and forward Anthony Martial and huffed and puffed but failed to break down their dogged opponents
LONDON, United
Kingdom- West Ham inflicted more away-day pain on a poor Manchester United
side on Sunday, lifting themselves to fourth in the Premier League with a
comfortable 2-0 win at the London Stadium.
Andriy Yarmolenko's goal shortly before half-time and a
wonderful late Aaron Cresswell free-kick extended United's barren run on the
road.
United, who started the season by thumping Chelsea 4-0, have
lost twice already in their opening six league games and lie seventh, without
an away win in any competition since March.
Injury-hit United were without midfielder Paul Pogba and
forward Anthony Martial and huffed and puffed but failed to break down their
dogged opponents.
West Ham are riding high under Manuel Pellegrini, unbeaten
since a 5-0 drubbing in the first match of the season and this victory followed
a home win last season against United at the London Stadium.
But it was a chastening day for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men,
just a day after champions Manchester City came close to matching United's
Premier League record for margin of victory -- 9-0 against Ipswich in 1995.
Solskjaer played the same side that triumphed against
Leicester last week while Pablo Fornals came in for the injured Manuel Lanzini
for the home side.
Both sides were cagey at the start of the match, with
neither side able to create clear-cut chances.
West Ham looked the more inventive team when they broke
forward while United looked ponderous in attack and lacking in ideas, with
Marcus Rashford isolated up front.
The match was drifting towards the interval before Felipe
Anderson and Yarmolenko combined to sap United's confidence with a goal in the
44th minute.
United went close to an equaliser early in the
second half as the rain came down in London, with Juan Mata missing from
close range after an Andreas Pereira cross.
Already short of options up front and missing creators in
midfield, they lost Rashford just before the hour mark, replaced by the out-of-form
Jesse Lingard.
West Ham went close to doubling their lead shortly
afterwards but David de Gea got down low to keep out an Anderson shot from a
tight angle.
United upped the pressure and West Ham had goalkeeper Lukasz
Fabianski to thank for keeping out a Harry Maguire strike from close range.
But West Ham continued to look more dangerous on the
break and made United pay when Ashley Young brought down Mark Noble on the
edge of the penalty area.
De Gea was a bystander as Cresswell curled a free-kick into
the top right-hand corner to add to United's pain.