United stumbles at West Ham, Wolves hold Palace

WEST Ham United beat a toothless Manchester United 2-0 at home yesterday to move into fourth place in the English Premier League as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side ended the game without an established striker after Marcus Rashford came off injured.

Ukraine 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.

United created no chances of note before the interval but Juan Mata missed a glorious opportunity early in the second half when he fluffed from close range, while Harry Maguire was later thwarted by West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski.

Its 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 has 11 points after six games, the same as third-placed Leicester City, while United (8) is eighth.

In the day’s other early game, Diogo Jota’s last-gasp equalizer earned Wolverhampton Wanderers a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace as their wait for a first league win of the season continued.

A mistake by Joel Ward five minutes into stoppage time allowed Jota to score from close range, earning Wolves a fourth draw from their six games.

They had to do it the hard way though as they played the final stages with 10 men after Romain Saiss was sent off.

Palace, which could have gone sixth with a win, took the lead a minute after halftime when Ward’s shot was headed into his own net by Leander Dendoncker. Wolves (4) stay second from bottom.

(Reuters)