Manchester United too hot for lowly West Ham
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Juan Sebastian Veron put United 2-0 up after 17 minutes and a second-half own goal by West Ham defender Sebastien Schemmel completed the scoring — though top striker Ruud van Nistelrooy could easily have had a hat-trick.
West Ham, who won this fixture last season, were never in contention against a side who have now clocked up eight wins and a draw in their last nine games in all competitions.
Adding further gloss to United’s victory was the return to league action of David Beckham as a second-half substitute after more than a month’s absence with a rib injury.
Having beaten Arsenal and Liverpool in recent weeks, United showed their determination to bring the league title back to Old Trafford, combining tough tackling with their trademark fluent attacking football.
Solskjaer opened the scoring after 15 minutes, meeting Gary Neville’s cross from the right with a header that took a deflection off West Ham’s Tomas Repka.
The Czech defender was also involved in United’s second just two minutes later, conceding the free kick for a foul on Van Nistelrooy from 25 metres out which Veron promptly arrowed into the top left-hand corner.
Van Nistelrooy had the ball in the West Ham net in the 25th minute, but the Dutch striker was clearly offside and had no better luck 10 minutes later when he failed to beat keeper David James with a shot from eight metres.
Jermain Defoe had the ball in United’s net just before the break, following a rebounded clearance, but his strike was ruled offside in a far less clearcut decision by the linesman.
Though West Ham put up a fight after the re-start, United were far too slick moving forward and Van Nistelrooy lost a one-one-one with James before Schemmel scored his own goal in the 61st minute.
Gary Neville was again the provider, whipping in a low cross from the right which Van Nistelrooy somehow missed but the inrushing Schemmel blundered into, sending the ball into his own net.
Van Nistelrooy was put through yet again in the 74th minute, with the Dutchman this time unleashing a daisy-cutter which beat James but flew just wide of the target.
United keeper Fabien Barthez had only one real save to make, when he prevented his defender Wes Brown from scoring an own goal with a powerful close-range header.
It was typical of West Ham’s luck and, while United keep the pressure on Arsenal and Chelsea at the top, Glenn Roeder’s side stay rock bottom of the table.
Results
Premier League
Aston Villa 2 West Bromwich Albion 1
Charlton Athletic 2 Manchester City 2
Everton 2 Blackburn Rovers 1
ManUnited 3 West Ham United 0
Middlesbrough 1 Chelsea 1
Southampton 1 Newcastle United 1
BERLIN: German champions Borussia Dortmund closed the gap on leaders Bayern Munich with a 4-0 thrashing of bottom-placed Energie Cottbus in their last game before the winter break on Saturday.
Two goals from Czech forward Jan Koller and one each from Brazilan strikers Ewerthon and Marcio Amoros gave second-placed Dortmund a spectacular away victory.
Bayern were held to 0-0 draw by Schalke 04 but still reach the halfway point with a comfortable six-point lead on Dortmund and remain ideally placed to win their 18th German crown.
Werder Bremen stayed in third place, also six points off the pace, with a 2-0 home win over Borussia Moenchengladbach courtesy of goals from strikers Markus Daun and Ailton.
After two more matches on Sunday, the Bundesliga will enter its traditional break before resuming on Jan 25.
Energie Cottbus 0 Borussia Dortmund 4
Bayern Munich 0 Schalke 04 0
Werder Bremen 2 B.Moenchengladbach 0
Hanover 96 0 Arminia Bielefeld 0
Hansa Rostock 0 Hamburg SV 0
VfL Bochum 1 TSV 1860 Munich 1
Bayer Leverkusen 0 Nuremberg 2
Premier League
Dundee 1 Motherwell 1
Hearts 1 Partick Thistle 0
Livingston 1 Hibernian 2
Rangers 3 Dundee United 0
—AFP/Reuters