Premier League: Manchester United lose again vs West Ham to leave Erik ten Hag under fire

Manchester United suffered a 2-0 loss at West Ham on Saturday, with goals from Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus piling pressure on under-fire manager Erik ten Hag. West Ham’s late strikes blew Ten Hag’s side away at the London Stadium, condemning them to their eighth Premier League defeat of the season.

West Ham moved up to sixth place on 30 points after a bruising 5-1 defeat to Liverpool in the League Cup in midweek. United have not scored in their last four games in all competitions, dropping them to eighth place with 28 points.

The first half was low on quality, with Alejandro Garnacho having the best chance in the 35th minute, but the winger lost his balance and shot straight at Alphonse Areola. West Ham almost scored immediately after, with a dangerous cross from Bowen forcing Jonny Evans into a smart save as the first half came to a close. Bowen nearly scored shortly after the break with a good header from a James Ward-Prowse corner, but Onana saved his effort.

However, the winger broke the deadlock with his 11th league goal of the season, taking Paqueta’s dinked ball in stride before Onana’s save rebounded off the forward and into the net.

Paqueta then took advantage of Kobbie Mainoo’s error in midfield to set up Kudus, who fired past Onana to give the hosts all three points. The defeat, United’s eighth in the league, adds to the pressure on manager Erik ten Hag, who was taunted by West Ham fans before the final whistle.

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, speaking to BBC Match of the Day: “I think it was a decent 72 minutes where we didn’t take our chances. We should’ve gone in the lead but we didn’t and then it was one moment of switching off.”

Asked about United’s poor record against top opposition, Ten Hag added: “At this moment we are not top, but we have seen last week against the top of this league we were head-to-head. We didn’t score, we had the best opportunities of the game. There we defended very well for 90 minutes, that has to be always our standard like what we did there. You have to bring that to every game on the pitch.