Manchester United hosted West Ham United at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon as they continued to climb high on the Premier League table.
The league match came less than three days after Cristiano Ronaldo, Diogo Dalot, and Marcus Rashford all scored as United easily defeated FC Sheriff 3-0 on Thursday in the Europa League group stage.
Since the Manchester City disaster (United’s 6-3 defeat to City), United has gone undefeated, and they most recently drew 1-1 with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
In Manchester United Vs West Ham game earlier today, West Ham promptly won a throw-in deep in Manchester United territory while wearing their white and peach-away uniform, but nothing came of it.
In the second minute, Ronaldo was awarded a free kick, but West Ham stole the ball back and raced off.
Martnez charged down Benrahma’s shot after he passed Maguire and decided to shoot rather than play in Jarrod Bowen on the right.
West Ham was content to watch as their hosts passed the ball around the middle as the game began to calm down a little.
Benrahma was brushed aside by Casemiro, who then passed the ball to Ronaldo, who unleashes his signature 25-yard swerving shot. But Fabianski was right there behind it.
Afterwards, Rashford skipped into the area and had his shot deflected narrowly over the bar as Manchester United step up the pressure.
Rashford rised to meet Elanga’s cross a few while later, but his header was directed straight at Fabianski.
In the 39th minute, Marcus Rashford broke the scoreless tie by scoring his 100th goal for Manchester United with an extremely massive header!
When Bowen’s cross-shot looped over De Gea and was caught by Martinez with Scamacca waiting at the far post, West Ham almost quickly countered.
Fernandes’ cross to Ronaldo was slightly overhit as Manchester United continued to use the aerial route.
Marcus Rashford’s thunderous header gave Manchester United the lead at the half, and they probably deserved to be in ahead.
While West Ham has had its moments, they lack the cutting edge that Ian Holloway’s Blackpool did.
The closest West Ham came was when Antonio bent his attempt into the far corner in the 80th minute, forcing a big save from David de Gea. De Gea turned the ball behind after spurning a cross.
Marcus Rashford’s header in the opening period—his 100th goal overall for Man United—was sufficient to give his team a 1-0 victory over West Ham.
Rashford’s powerful header off of Christian Eriksen’s exquisite cross gave the home team the lead in the 39th minute as United suddenly sprang to life.
Early in the second half, veteran forward Cristiano Ronaldo missed a wonderful opportunity to extend United’s lead by shooting wide from a decent position before West Ham upped the tempo.
As the game went on, the visitors increased their pressure, forcing David De Gea to make two outstanding saves to deny West Ham substitute Michail Antonio.
The United triumph, which moves them above Chelsea into fifth place in the rankings, one point behind fourth-place Newcastle United, was preserved by another outstanding save from De Gea to deny Declan Rice at the very last second.
Rashford speaking to Sky sports news after the match said: “It’s not bad – but I need to be scoring more headers!”
“I don’t think we played at our best today but if we want to reach our ambitions for the season, we’re going to have to win games like that.”
“I need to be scoring a few more headers. Definitely [I’ve been working on it]. I feel that I’ve got a decent jump, I just need to work on attacking the ball and getting the initial contact.”
“We want to perform better but it’s nice to win in that way as well.”
The defeat forced West Ham to slip to the 13th place on the league table.
