Match Review: West Ham vs Manchester United

West Ham 1 vs 3 Manchester United | Premier League | Match Review

Manchester United came from behind at the Olympic stadium to beat West Ham United 3-1, which moves them to fourth place in the table.

After a setback in midweek at the hands of PSG, United responded well with three points in the league despite a very poor performance.

The Reds didn’t show any signs of a great team performance today but instead showed great moments in the final half an hour. After a shocking first hour ,which takes their consecutive away wins to nine in a row, a few moments of magic sealed the three points.

West Ham fans, who were finally allowed back in the ground, will have been delighted to see their first half performance as the Hammers dominated the first period of the game. 

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David Moyes’s side went one up after a corner was flicked on from Declan Rice and was met by the head of the unmarked Soucek at the back post.

Prior to the game, Ole said he would not use Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford unless absolutely necessary, due to the huge meeting in midweek with RB Leipzig. Both players came on at half time, replacing Cavani and Van De Beek.

Instantly United looked a different team as they controlled the final period of the game.

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In a matter of minutes United went from one down to two goals in front. A beautiful first time effort from just outside the box was put away from Paul Pogba after a VAR review checked to see if the ball had gone out of play in the build up.

Mason Greenwood got the second, with a Van Persie-esque goal when he converted from a wonderful self set up.

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Marcus Rashford wrapped up the game for United when he broke through one on one and dinked the ball over Fabianski with a cool chipped effort.

This was nothing new for Manchester United under Solsjkaer, as they are now quite used to playing poorly going one behind, and then finding a way to win while on the road.

United proved how heavily they rely on their Portuguese playmaker, Bruno Fernandes in this game, as the minute he came on they transformed into a far better side. 

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Fernandes has now been involved in 36 goals in 38 games in all competitions (22 goals and 14 assists) since his debut for United.

Goalkeeper, Dean Henderson, replaced the injured David De Gea and also put in a superb performance, getting an honourable mention for man of the match by Gary Neville, however the award was given to the substitute, Marcus Rashford.

Despite their poor home form, the win means this is United’s best start to a set of away games since the 1985/86 season after winning five from five in the league.

As previously mentioned, United have a huge game mid week as they travel to Germany to play last years semi finalists, who they previously beat 5-0, to try and gain a place in the last 16 of the competition. 

They only need a point from the game to qualify so the pressure is on for Ole’s side, however, if you’d have told any United supporter at the start of the season that they’d be two points off the top of the league, and only needing that point to qualify from the death group, I think they’d have snapped your hand off.