West Ham pick up their second win of the season and pushed Jose Mourinho closer to the exit door after beating Man Utd 3-1 at the London Stadium. The Hammers had won only one of their previous 19 games against United, a side that has traditionally had the better of the Irons, but were good value for their win here, with the Red Devils looking a pale shadow of their former selves.
While Manuel Pellegrini stuck to the 4-1-4-1 formation that has seen an upturn in his side’s fortunes , Jose Mourinho surprisingly opted to go with 5 at the back, and more surprisingly, his back 3 included midfielder Scott Tominay instead of Eric Bailly. For United fans, this would’ve felt like a bit of deja vu- the 3 at the back with a midfielder in defence tactic was tried against Spurs, and backfired, badly.
West Ham’s only change was to restore the again fit Marko Arnautovic to the starting XI instead of Michail Antonio, who missed a couple of great chances that might have seen the Hammers beat Chelsea.
The Hammers drew first blood, scoring in the 6th minute after Noble and Zabaleta had combined to set up Felipe Anderson. The Brazilian produced a delightful backheel flick for his first league goal of the season, and the ex Lazio star also became the first Brazilian since Ilan to score for the Hammers.
Stung, United attempted to restore parity. Most of their attacks came down the right side, withe combination of Anderson and Lukaku not getting their act together defensively. Romelu Lukaku had one good chance, but headed wide. Anthony Martial had another, but his second touch was poor, and United wasted another opportunity.
Instead, it was West Ham who went ahead in the 43rd minute. A corner landed at Andriy Yarmolenko’s feet, and his effort took a deflection off Lindelof and into goal.
In the second half Fellaini drew a fantastic save from Fabinaski before Rashford eventually got a goal back, a finish not too unlike Anderson’s, but from a set piece routine.
As United pressed for a second goal, the Hammers had a couple of good counter attacking opportunties, mostly involving the trio of Noble, Anderson and Arnautovic, but weren’t able to make them count. The two goal cushion was restored though, with Noble, perhaps not believing the amount of space in front of him, passing to Arnautovic, who duly did the rest. At 3-1, it was game over, and United eventually slumped to their third league defeat in 7- their joint worst start to a league campaign.
West Ham even had the luxury of giving youngster Diangana his debut, and the 56,938 in attendance went home very happy indeed.
The Hammers will next take on Brighton (away) while United will host Valencia in the Champions League.
West Ham 3 (Anderson, Lindelof OG, Arnautovic) beat Man Utd 1 (Rashford)
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