Another Big Result On The Road

I mentioned in my preview to this game that West Ham United had not won at Old Trafford since the 2006/7 season. In fact, they did the double over Manchester United in that campaign and they finally achieved that feat for the first time this term, as they beat them 2-0 to earn their first win since February 27.

It always seems to be that whenever the assembled media get wind of Graham Potter having a good record somewhere, he more often than not gets the result and he did so again on Sunday afternoon.

The Head-Coach made three changes to the side that played in the home draw with Tottenham Hotspur a week ago, as Vladimír Coufal, Guido Rodríguez and James Ward-Prowse all came into the starting line-up, while Aaron Wan-Bissaka made a first return to his former club since leaving for East London in the summer.

Emerson Palmieri, Niclas Füllkrug and Lucas Paquetá dropped to the bench. There was also a place amongst the substitutes for Edson Álvarez who had missed the last three games due to a back injury.

Ruben Amorim’s side were not in good form either going into this game, as they hadn’t won since March 16 and with all that in mind, it was evident from the opening minutes of the contest that it was going to be edgy. The Red Devils made a bright start but the Irons hung on and had a chance themselves but unfortunately, Max Kilman passed up the opportunity when his header from a Ward-Prowse free-kick went over the bar.

There wasn’t much of an atmosphere inside the stadium but the little noise that could be heard was all down to the travelling contingent. It got even louder however on twenty six minutes as Tomáš Souček finished off a move that consisted of thirty passes to beat home goalkeeper Altay Bayındır.

The East Londoners then began to find their rhythm and just three minutes later, Mohammed Kudus could have extended his team’s advantage, following a great team move involving Coufal and captain Jarrod Bowen however, the Ghanaian failed to do so and only succeeded in sending his effort well wide.

The home side went close twice through Rasmus Højlund but thankfully for the visitors, neither of the Dane’s attempts tested visiting goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. To be fair, the Frenchman had been virtually untroubled for most of the first-half.

The Hammers piled on the pressure by earning a succession of corners before the break. The trouble was that they couldn’t make any of them count. Shortly after, Souček tried his luck again but Luke Shaw was alert to the danger and slid in to get to the ball ahead of the Czech.

Referee Jarred Gillett then brought the half to a conclusion and Potter was only forty five minutes away from claiming what would be only his fourth win since taking charge of the club back in January.

After controlling much of the opening period, the momentum was still with West Ham when the action restarted. Kudus was proving to be a constant threat to Amorim’s men. On this particular occasion, he played the ball over to Ward-Prowse but Bayındır was in the way.

Having seen that chance pass them by, the former Ajax winger was in no mood to give up and he was at the heart of the action when setting up their next chance. Nine minutes later, he received the ball from Wan-Bissaka who did brilliantly to force Manuel Ugarte into a mistake and used his afterburners to evade the attentions of Harry Maguire to find his teammate and Kudus played the ball into Bowen’s path and he then put the ball past Bayındır.

Potter turned to his bench just after the hour mark and brought on Álvarez for Rodríguez.

The Red Devils still couldn’t find their shooting boots and saw a number of opportunities come and go, before captain Bruno Fernandes tried to reduce the arrears but thankfully, Souček was in the right place to block the effort.

With time beginning to run out for the hosts, they were still trying to pull a goal back but found Areola in imperious form, as the Frenchman denied Højlund twice. The second was even better, as he was on the end of a move that saw Maguire get his head to a free-kick from the home skipper.

The visitors made a double change on seventy three minutes when Füllkrug and Carlos Soler came on to take the places of both Kudus and Bowen.

Potter later replaced both Jean-Clair Todibo and Coufal with Konstantinos Mavropanos and Palmieri. At the same time, Amorim made his final switch by introducing Christian Eriksen into the action for Amad Diallo.

The home team kept the pressure up but were never going to trouble Areola. With five minutes of normal time to play, youngster Kobbie Mainoo brought his side up the pitch but fortunately for those housed in the away end, he could only shoot wide.

The points were seemingly safe however, Ward-Prowse could have really put the gloss on victory as he was on the ball and only had Bayındır to beat but the home stopper made a good save with his foot.

Potter’s men managed to successfully negotiate the six minutes of stoppage time that were added on and that win should give the team some much-needed confidence going into the last home game of the season against Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon.