Man Utd move up to sixth with win over West Ham

Alejandro Garnacho scored twice as Manchester United defeated West Ham to keep up their good start to 2024.

It could have been a different day had André Onana not made an instinctive save to deny Tomás Soucek's effort that had deflected off Edson Álvarez.

Despite the Hammers starting the game well it was the home side who took the lead. Casemiro won the ball inside the West Ham half where Rasmus Højlund was there to pick up the ball, shimmy past  Nayef Aguerd and fire past Alphonse Aréola.

That goal was Højlund's 10th of the season in all competitions and it was scored on his 21st birthday.

The flow of the game remained the same after United's opener with West Ham having much of the play. Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus in particular looked threatening.

David Moyes' team ended the first half with 13 shots in total although only two were on target.

West Ham really should have equalised a few minutes after the restart when Harry Maguire miskicked a back pass that played in Emerson Palmieri. The Italian couldn't get his feet right though and shanked his effort wide.

That mistake was quickly punished. Bruno Fernandes found a pass out to the right where Alejandro Garnacho fired an effort that took a deflection off Aguerd and into the net.

Bowen had a great opportunity to pull one back for West Ham when Álvarez's ball over the top found the forward in space behind the United defence. But Bowen took too long allowing Diogo Dalot to make a superb recovery and get his body in the way of the shot.

Things were going United's way except for one thing, Lisandro Martínez had to be replaced in the 70th minute with a knee injury. Raphaël Varane took his place in the side but it will be a worry for Erik ten Hag – his defence performs far better with Martínez in the team.

The game was wrapped up in the 84th minute. West Ham substitute and Manchester City loanee Kalvin Phillips was caught in the middle of the pitch allowing space for Scott McTominay to run into.

McTominay had time to feed in Garnacho who slipped as he hit his shot but saw it nestle into the corner to make it 3-0.

That win means Manchester United move ahead of West Ham and up into sixth place in the Premier League.

 

 

 

 

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