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West Ham 1-3 Man United
- Goals: Tomas Souček (£ 4.9 million) | Paul Pogba (£ 7.7 million), Mason Greenwood (£ 7.1 million), Marcus Rashford (£ 9.5 million)
- Attend: Declan Rice (£ 4.8 million) | Bruno Fernandes (£ 10.9 million), Alex Telles (£ 5.5 million), Juan Mata (£ 5.9 million)
- Extra points: Pogba x3, Fernandes x2, Souček x1
SMASH AND GRAB
Bruno fernandes (£ 10.9 million) left its burgeoning owner wondering what it might have been when he transformed Manchester United into a 3-1 win at West Ham.
In a match for which the phrase “game of two halves” was invented, the Portuguese international was comfortably man of the match despite only playing 45 minutes.
Ole Gunnar Solksjaer put Fernandes to rest and Marcus rashford (£ 9.5m) on Gameweek 11, citing recent bruises and bumps.
“With Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes, lately they have been kicked from here to there. Bruno’s foot hurts since the Southampton game. Hopefully I won’t have to wear it tonight. “- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, speaking before the game
The Manchester United manager hoped he could get through the London Stadium match without resorting to them, but his hand was forced when West Ham played his team out of the park in the opening period.
“We fight to keep up with the counterattack and set-ups. We give the ball away too often ”. – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Solskjaer introduced Fernandes and Rashford instead of Donny van beek (£ 6.7 million) and Edinson cavani (£ 8.1 million), the two players placed in their preferred positions of number 10 and left respectively, and made Manchester United an entirely different team.
Crucial to that transformation Fernandes playing a whopping eight key passes. That’s right, EIGHT in just 45 minutes, the most of any player in a Premier League game this season and enough to help him score two bonus points as well.
If those around him had shown better results in the second half, or if Solskjaer had been a starter, he could have realistically left the London stadium with three or four assists and could have matched his captaincy rival from Week 11. Kevin De Bruyne (£ 11.7 million).
The bench surprise may have ended Fernandes’ streak of four consecutive double-digit sets in days away, but he remains an exceptional asset on the road and, of course, still not blank outside Old Trafford in 2020 / twenty-one.
That said, Fantasy managers may want to keep an eye on their matches, considering Manchester United are at home in four of the next six. Fernandes may have averaged 11.4 points per game away from home this season, but he has only scored 4.8 points per game at Old Trafford.
ATTRACTIVE DEVILS
It’s clear that the demanding schedule is starting to take its toll on Manchester United’s squad before the Christmas rush is at its peak.
We recently highlighted the hectic nature of their December matches, this month with nine matches and no fewer than six two-day deliveries.
So the fact that Cavani and Anthony Martial (£ 8.7m) both blows collected against West Ham is far from ideal for Solskjaer.
“Edinson had to leave with an injury. Hopefully not too bad. Anthony had to go out too. “- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
“We lost (Anthony) Martial and Edinson (Cavani). Hopefully it wasn’t too bad, but they couldn’t continue. It is going to be a season in which we will have to do without players. Glad we have the subs we have. We will do some scans and hopefully they will be available soon. “
In the meantime, David De Gea (£ 5.4m) was out as the injury suffered at Southampton in game week 10 continues to plague the keeper.
He was able to face PSG in the middle of the week, but Solskjaer was unwilling to take any chances, giving him a long-awaited first Premier League start. Dean henderson (£ 5.3m), who did an excellent job of keeping Manchester United just 1-0 down in the pitiful first half.
“The injury against Southampton is something we don’t want to risk. Obviously he played against PSG, so hopefully we can also have him ready for Leipzig. ” – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
HAMMERS LOWERING
West Ham’s defensive credentials continue to decline as they conceded for the fifth time in seven games.
In many ways the first half turned out to be somewhat misleading regarding their recent woes on defense, the Hammers allowing full control of the game through unfortunate passes and approaches from Manchester United.
However, the game took a turn once the Red Devils got going and West Ham was second best from that point.
A downward trend at the rear continues for David Moyes’s men who were certainly fortunate enough not to concede more often in recent wins over Fulham and Aston Villa.
That was also confirmed in recent underlying statistics. For example, they entered Game Week 11 scoring worse for expected goals conceded (xGC) in the previous four games than the Cottagers and consequently let in more goals than the Cottagers on Saturday.
Fundamentally popular fantasy asset Patrick Bamford (£ 6.1m) and his Leeds colleagues face West Ham at Gameweek 12 before attackers in the form of Chelsea host the Hammers at Gameweek 14.
West Ham United XI (3-4-2-1): Fabianski; Cresswell, Ogbonna, Balbuena; Masuaku, Souček, Rice, Coufal (Johnson 85 ′); Fornals (Benrahma 75 ′), Bowen (Lanzini 76 ′); Haller.
Manchester United XI (4-2-3-1): D Henderson; Telles, Maguire, Lindelöf, Wan-Bissaka; Pogba, McTominay; Martial (Mata 62 ′), van de Beek (B Fernandes 46 ′), Greenwood; Cavani (Rashford 46 ′).
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