West Ham bid farewell to Boleyn Ground with 3-2 win over Manchester United
West Ham United celebrated their final game at Upton Park with a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Manchester United on Tuesday night. The win takes the Hammers up to sixth in the table while Manchester United’s Champions League hopes now hinge the final day’s results with Manchester City still holding on to a two-point lead.
Squads
West Ham: Randolph, Antonio, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble (C), Kouyate, Sakho, Lanzini, Payet, Carroll
Manchester United: De Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Blind, Rojo, Herrera, Schneiderlin, Rooney (C), Mata, Martial, Rashford
Kickoff at the Boleyn Ground was delayed by 45 minutes after the United coach was mobbed by fans as it made its way to the stadium. Bottles were thrown at the bus by fans, damaging the exterior panel and windows.
“It wasn't nice,” Wayne Rooney said of the incident. “The coach got smashed up, but we are here now. I'm sure you'll see the images.
“It's not for me to say, but it was disappointing of course. It's a big night for West Ham, but I'm sure West Ham as a club will be disappointed with what the fans have done.”
West Ham looked more dangerous in spite of United dominating possession
The Hammers were clearly up for this game, energized by the crowd at Upton Park who created an atmosphere to remember. They started brightly, winning the ball back as United tried to keep possession to take the bite out of West Ham’s attack. But Slaven Bilic’s side allowed United to dominate possession and looked to score mainly from counter-attacks or set-pieces.
However, the home side took the lead in the 10th minute to lift the roof off of Boleyn Ground. Cresswell spotted Lanzini making a run in behind Antonio Valencia and his weighted through ball pass was cut back into the box by Lanzini.
Diafra Sakho did well to lose Daley Blind and took a left-footed shot that deflected off Blind’s calf and curled into the bottom corner with De Gea failing to save it with a dive to his right.
They almost doubled their lead through Carroll when Blind was guilty of playing out of position again. The English striker made a solo run into the final third with no one to mark him and he only had De Gea to beat. But he got his early shot was straight at De Gea and the Spaniard made a good block to deny the home side another goal.
Moments later, Michail Antonio thought he had scored with a header and had even started celebrating with the fans before the linesman flag went up. The cross had gone out for a corner kick before it curled back in towards the far post where Antonio had nodded it home.
United’s best chance came just after the half-hour mark when Rooney, in acres of space in midfield, managed to whip in a tempting cross towards the six-yard box. It cleared the first line of defenders before Rashford attempted to head it on target but Angelo Ogbonna put his body on the line in the nick of time to concede a corner.
The visitors also had a penalty appeal turned down when Martial skipped into the box after a quick one-two. A tussle with Antonio at the edge of the box saw the French forward fall to the ground but referee Mike Dean refused to award a penalty and saw it as a fair challenge.
Half-time: West Ham 1-0 Manchester United
West Ham make fitting comeback after losing lead
Louis van Gaal replaced Morgan Schneiderlin with Michael Carrick at half-time with the French midfielder unable to exert his influence on the game. Ander Herrera and Rooney looked to have grown into the game towards the end of the first half and Carrick joined the duo in midfield before the second half.
United found the crucial equaliser early to improve their chances of qualifying for the Champions League. Marcus Rashford received the ball from a De Gea goal kick in West Ham’s half before slipping in Juan Mata who had sprinted around him and overlapped the youngster.
The Spanish midfielder faked a shot and moved the ball to his right foot and reached the goal line before cutting it back into the six-yard box where a waiting Anthony Martial only had to tap it into an empty net.
United had been defending well in the second half as Carroll and co. looked for a second goal. While United were unable to match the physicality of the Hammers in the air, they still managed to keep them at bay until they grabbed a second goal.
This time, Anthony Martial did it all by himself. After united won the ball in midfield, Rashford found Martial sprinting down the left flank and slipped the ball out to the Frenchman. Martial managed to sprint past Winston Reid and, although he looked to attempt a cross to the far post, it ended up being a shot which beat goalkeeper Darren Randolph to find the side-netting.
But the Red Devils’ lead only lasted three minutes as West Ham soon equalised at the other end. Dimitri Payet’s long ball into the box found Michail Antonio free near the penalty spot. He wasn’t denied his goal on this occasion as his header beat De Gea’s outstretched hand to find the back of the net.
Buoyed by the goal, the Hammers soon delivered a crushing blow five minutes soon after. Another free-kick saw Payet send the ball into the box and Winston Reid managed to redeem himself and score with a bullet of a header.
Although De Gea managed to get a hand to it, he was unable to prevent it from crossing the line as he fell to the turf following the dive. It was West Ham’s 15th goal from a header in the league this season – the highest in the Premier League.
United were simply unable to recover from the onslaught and even four minutes of added time could not prevent them from sinking to their 10th league defeat of the season and also seeing their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League taken out of their hands.