By Richard Martin
LONDON (Reuters) – West Ham United beat a toothless Manchester United 2-0 at home on Sunday to move into fourth place in the Premier League as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side ended the game without an established striker after Marcus Rashford came off injured.
Ukrainian forward Andriy Yarmolenko put West Ham ahead at the end of a drab first half with a confident first-time finish into the bottom corner and Aaron Cresswell sealed victory with an outstanding free kick in the 84th minute.
The visitors, who were missing Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw through injury and lost teenage striker Mason Greenwood to illness, looked sluggish throughout the game and lacked spark and creativity.
United created no chances of note before the interval but Juan Mata missed a glorious opportunity early in the second half when he missed the target from close range, while Harry Maguire was later thwarted by West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianksi.
Their slim hopes of getting back into the game were rocked when Rashford came off with a suspected muscle injury, leaving winger Daniel James to operate as a lone striker for the final half an hour.
West Ham have 11 points after six games, the same as third-placed Leicester City, while Man United are eighth on eight points.
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