West Ham United 1-2 Manchester United: Lingard's return to London

By Callum Castel-Nuovo

With West Ham missing Michail Antonio through suspension, the visit of Manchester United at The London Stadium was always going to be a difficult challenge. Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Jesse Lingard ruled out Said Benrahma’s goal for West Ham and saw Manchester United leave London with all three points.

Kurt Zouma came into the West Ham team for his Premier League debut replacing Craig Dawson, whilst Nicola Vlasic replaced Antonio for his full Premier League debut. Jarrod Bowen was named to start through the middle in the absence of Antonio as David Moyes explained that this position could be rotated with Vlasic and Said Benrahma.

Scott McTominay returned to the Manchester United starting eleven after injury to join Fred in the double pivot, replacing Jadon Sancho who found himself on the bench whilst Paul Pogba claimed the left-hand side.

The game started quietly with plenty of Manchester United possession in the first five minutes before the game was stopped for a brief delay as Pogba stayed on the ground after a challenge from Zouma.

As the game resumed, Manchester United continued to play patiently and keep hold of the ball with chances coming far and few between for both teams. Manchester United were attacking through Luke Shaw who was getting forward quite often, but the end product wasn’t quite there.

By the 10th minute, West Ham put their first cross into the box but didn’t manage to reach anyone as this showed what they were missing without their talisman Antonio.

A Harry Maguire mistake led to Bowen picking his pocket and finding Benrahma who then laid Bowen off for a strike that was blocked by Raphael Varane. West Ham found the ball again shortly after and Thomas Soucek was laid off for a strike on the edge of the box that just whistled past the post as West Ham started to get into the game.

Manchester United continued to struggle to find their passing range and West Ham began to attack again. A lovely range of passing from West Ham managed to end up at Bowen’s feet who hit the ball low at De Gea, saving the shot with his feet before Thomas Soucek blazed the rebound over the goal.

Manchester United started to put a few passing plays together as Pogba found Cristiano Ronaldo. A nice bit of skill saw him turn onto his right foot and release a strike, but this was met from a lot of cheers by the West Ham faithful as the ball was straight at Lukasz Fabisanski in goal.

Manchester United then earned a corner that ended up reaching Bruno Fernandes, but he could only watch his first-time volley fantastically tipped onto the post by Fabianski. Seconds later, Shaw released a strike from outside the box testing Fabianski again as Manchester United began to have a better spell in the game.

West Ham regained possession again as they worked the ball up towards Bowen who turned on to his left foot and laid off Benrahma, taking a neat touch and striking the ball from distance towards the top right corner. However, a heavy deflection from Varane wrong footed De Gea and ended up in the back of the net as West Ham took the lead.

Manchester United began to respond instantly as Ronaldo found the ball in an advantageous position but his first touch let him down and the ball ended up at Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s feet who earned the reds a corner. The resulting corner was cleared but Bruno Fernandes lofted the ball back into Cristiano Ronaldo who hit the ball at Fabianski but buried the rebound for the equaliser.

The game started to open up for both teams as Bowen started to show some trickery and open up the Manchester United defence before United went back up the other end and forced a good save out of Fabianski through Ronaldo. West Ham then responded instantly on the counter, but Vlasic’s strike went hopelessly over the bar.

The first half ended with Manchester United possession and a few corners for the Red Devils but another very swift counter attack by West Ham just couldn’t find anyone in the box again - once again symbolising the absence of Antonio.

Manchester United had seven shots on target during the first half, the most of a Premier League team in one half so far this season yet were still not in front. This indicated how good Manchester United looked going forward but how vulnerable they could still be at the back, particularly with West Hams counter attacking ability.

Fabianski was called into action within the first minute as of the second half as a sloppy West Ham pass soon found Cristiano Ronaldo, but Fabianski pushed his strike out for a corner. The corner was cleared, and West Ham counter attacked again, earning themselves a corner. The set piece was also cleared but did end up with Bowen testing De Gea who saved the strike comfortably.

After this, the game started to meander with no real direction, unlike the first half with Manchester United having most of the ball in the West Ham half, but not creating anything significant.

On the 67-minute mark, David Moyes showed his hand first by bringing Andriy Yarmolenko on to replace Vlasic, shuffling up the forward line. His first play in the game was to receive the ball in an offside position as it appeared that Wan-Bissaka fouled Soucek in the penalty area, but the foul was given against Soucek.

Yarmolenko was then involved in three separate dangerous attacks for West Ham in one sequence, giving West Ham a significant boost. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer then responded with substitutions of his own as Jesse Lingard and Jadon Sancho came on to replace Mason Greenwood and Paul Pogba.

Lingard was welcomed with a round of applause from the West Ham fans as he entered the game against his former loan club and he was soon in the action, releasing Bruno Fernandes who hit the ball low at the keeper.

Declan Rice started to push West Ham further into Manchester United’s half but Manchester United responded with a counter attack, resulting in Ronaldo going down in the penalty area through a Vladimir Coufal challenge, but the referee waved play on.

As Manchester United continued to try and break West Ham down, David Moyes and Solskjaer opted for further substitutions as Manuel Lanzini replaced West Ham’s goalscorer Said Benrahma and Nemanja Matic replaced Fred.

Nemanja Matic was instantly involved in the game with an assist, as West Ham fans’ nightmare became a reality as their former loanee, Jess Lingard shifted the ball onto his right foot and placed the ball into the top right corner. Lingard then went to celebrate with the Manchester United fans after making up for his midweek mistake against Young Boys.

It was then Ronaldo who started racing at the West Ham defence and was hacked down by Kurt Zouma with a poor challenge in the penalty area, but the referee waved for a goal kick yet again.

West Ham went straight down the other end and as Yarmolenko received the ball and crossed the ball into the box, he hit the ball against Luke Shaw’s arm. The referee went to the Visual Assistant Referee (VAR) monitor and adjudged that it was a penalty to West Ham.

David Moyes then substituted Jarrod Bowen off for 34-year-old Mark Noble who was handed the ball to put on the penalty spot. Noble stepped up and hit the ball to De Gea’s left who saved the penalty at a low height. Heartbreak for West Ham as seconds later the final whistle was blown and Manchester United went joint top of the Premier League, leaving West Ham down in 8th.

FT: West Ham 1-2 Manchester United