Julen Lopetegui had plenty of praise for West Ham's "strong mentality" as his side triumphed 4-1 against Ipswich Town at London Stadium.

It marked the Hammers’ first win at home this Premier League season, while Ipswich remain winless.

The hosts went 1-0 ahead after 48 seconds through Michail Antonio - West Ham’s earliest Premier League goal on record.

Having been pegged back to level terms just five minutes later when Liam Delap scored following a corner, Lopetegui was pleased with how his side set about regaining control, with Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta on target.

"We started better but we suffered a very early goal too. We conceded from the first corner and maybe we could have done better. It was key as the team then showed a strong mentality," he said, as quoted by Sky Sports.

"In the bad moments, you have to be strong. We did against Brentford and we did again today. It's important to highlight as it will help us become a better team."

West Ham proved the dominant force, registering 23 shots with 17 of them coming from inside the box. It meant Lopetegui’s men accumulated an expected goals (xG) total of 3.17 by full-time.

"We're happy when we win. We work for this. We're happy for the fans as they deserve this and for the players as they are working very hard. It was against a good team. They didn't lose to Villa, Fulham, Southampton, Brighton so it's a good win,” he added.

For Lopetegui's counterpart Kieran McKenna, the result was another stark reminder of the challenges the Premier League presents for a promoted side.

The Tractor Boys sit in seventeenth, just one point above the relegation zone.

"It ended up a disappointing day for us. There was a large majority of the first half in which it was a competitive game that was evenly fought. We played some good football but we conceded poor goals which changed the momentum of the game," McKenna said.

"We didn't deal well enough with the direct play. The goals came from those moments so there's a lot for us to learn."

Ipswich allowed their opponents 28 touches inside their box, while they were reliant on the woodwork to stop West Ham from adding to their lead.

"They didn't have to work hard for their goals. Apart from the fourth, the goals came too easily. They have quality and they showed that with the goals and chances they created if you give them opportunities," reflected McKenna.

West Ham progressed to the third round of the EFL Cup after a contentious late goal from Jarrod Bowen helped them edge fellow Premier League side Bournemouth 1-0 at London Stadium.

As the game looked to be heading for a penalty shootout, Bowen emerged as West Ham's hero, deflecting in the winner with just two minutes left on the clock, though the ball appeared to strike his arm.

Julen Lopetegui's Hammers were on the backfoot for most of the first half, which ended with Bournemouth winger Dango Ouattara testing goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski with an acrobatic effort.

The visitors went close again as Marcus Tavernier brushed the woodwork with his free-kick eight minutes after the restart, but Bournemouth failed to find the back of the net despite creating plenty of chances and mustering an expected goals (xG) of 1.01 to West Ham's 0.8.

And ultimately, their profligacy was punished when Bowen turned in Mohamed Kudus' 88th-minute strike, and with no VAR, there was no reprieve for the Cherries.

West Ham will return to action when they host reigning champions Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday while the Cherries will be at Goodison Park on the same day to face Everton.

Data Debrief: Bowen blowing bubbles

Bowen has now scored in each of his last three games in the EFL Cup, and even though he did not know much about this goal, he was West Ham's greatest attacking threat, having five attempts in total, and getting three of them on target.

The Hammers have now found the net in each of their last six EFL Cup matches, which is the club's longest such run in the competition.

Unai Emery has said he wants to keep Jhon Duran despite transfer speculation after scoring the winner in Aston Villa's 2-1 victory over West Ham.

Duran slotted home the winner in the 79th minute after Lucas Paqueta’s spot-kick had ruled out Amadou Onana's early opener.

It was Duran's sixth Premier League goal in just 616 minutes of action in the competition, meaning he has averaged a goal every 103 minutes. That rate has only been bettered by Erling Haaland among those who have scored more than five goals.

Duran's goal was all the more fitting given he was seemingly on the verge of joining the Hammers earlier this summer, with the Colombia international even gesturing with an "irons" celebration in a social media video.

But Duran has so far stayed at Villa Park, and Emery is keen to keep it that way, although the Spaniard warned there are no guarantees.

"We were open with every player to accept a good offer and one of those players is him. But we know how much we believe in him and if he leaves it's because the offer is very good, but I want to keep him," Emery told the media.

“We believe in Duran and in his potential. We are always open to working with him if he's like he is today, helping the team and he was fantastic."

Speaking on other possible transfers, Emery suggested Alex Moreno was the most likely left-back to depart the club this summer. 

Having joined in January 2023, Moreno appears to be behind Lucas Digne and new arrival Ian Maatsen in the pecking order, and Nottingham Forest are among the clubs reportedly interested.

"We signed Ian Maatsen and we were speaking with different players in this position. The difficulty is to manage with three left-backs. Moreno is the player who is now close to leaving," he explained.

Debutant Onana headed in Villa's first goal, and while impressed with the midfielder's display, Emery knows there is more to come from the former Everton man.

"There’s still a lot of adaptation ahead, in training and in matches. Today it was his first official match with us. He was very mature, responsible and intelligent," he said.

“I think this is the first step we need. The adaptation is going to be long, because there are a lot of things we want to get out of him, but his potential is most important."

Villa bucked a poor record away at West Ham having gone without a win in their previous nine encounters away from Villa Park.

Despite West Ham’s superior 2.4 expected goals, Emery felt his side were deserving of their victory.

"The first 30 minutes were very good. We were in control of the game, with good positioning. We did'’t concede a corner until the 28th minute. We scored one and had a chance to get a second with Leon Bailey [hitting the post]," he reflected.

"They got a goal too, and we started the second half a bit softly. But we started controlling the game more again and deserved to win."

Julen Lopetegui lost his first Premier League game in charge of West Ham, as Jhon Duran's strike secured a 2-1 victory for Aston Villa at the London Stadium.

West Ham have spent big in the transfer market to back their new coach, but the Hammers ultimately fell short in their opening match of 2024-25.

Lucas Paqueta's penalty cancelled out an early opener from Villa debutant Amadou Onana, while Leon Bailey had struck the woodwork for the visitors too.

Substitute Duran – who was reportedly a target for the Hammers – would have the final say though, neatly finishing off a team move to restore Villa's lead with 11 minutes of normal time remaining.

Villa's win takes them into the top four, while West Ham sit in 15th, albeit both teams will not be paying too much attention to the table just yet.

Data Debrief: Villa end London Stadium woes

A trip to the London Stadium to start the season was probably not what Villa fans were hoping for when they saw the fixture list, having lost each of their last nine Premier League trips to east London.

But, they dug deep to end that run on Saturday, getting their first away win against the Hammers since April 2011 when they won 2-1 at Upton Park.

Duran proved the hero in the end - he has scored six Premier League goals from just 616 minutes played in the competition, an average of one every 103 minutes; among players to have scored 5+ Premier League goals, only Erling Haaland (85) averages a better minutes-to-goals rate

Meanwhile, West Ham have lost their opening game 16 times in the Premier League, more than any other team in the competition's history. 

British World Championship silver medallist signaled his intent to go one better at the Paris Olympics with a brilliant performance to win the 400m at the London Diamond League on Saturday.

In his home stadium, Hudson-Smith, whose mother hails from Hanover in Jamaica, covered the field in the first 300m before showcasing his endurance and strength in the last 100m on his way to a new personal best, national record and world leading 43.74, his first time under 44 seconds.

American Vernon Norwood ran a personal best 44.10 in second while Trinidadian Jereem Richards scaled to new heights in the event with a personal best of his own, 44.18, in third.

Signaling the speed on display in the race, Britain’s Charlie Dobson ran a personal best 44.23 in fourth while Olympic and World champion Kirani James’ season’s best 44.38 was only good enough for fifth.

The women’s 200m saw St. Lucian Commonwealth Games 100m silver medallist Julien Alfred produce a personal best and national record 21.86 for second.

American Olympic bronze medallist Gabby Thomas won in a meet record 21.82 while British 2019 World Champion Dina Asher-Smith was third in a season’s best 22.07.

The women’s 800m saw multiple time World Championship and Olympic finalist Natoya Goule-Toppin run a season’s best 1:56.83 for fourth.

Great Britain swept the top three spots led by World Championship silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson’s personal best, national record and world leading 1:54.61. Jemma Reekie was second in a personal best 1:55.61 while Georgia Bell also ran a personal best 1:56.28 in third.

Mohamed Salah refused to talk to the media following a touchline clash with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, saying there would be "fire" if he spoke.

Liverpool's Premier League title hopes are hanging by a thread following a 2-2 draw at West Ham on Saturday, and much of the discussion after the game centered on a flare-up between Salah and Klopp in the latter stages of the contest.

Salah, dropped from the starting XI for the visit to the London Stadium, was involved in a furious confrontation with Klopp prior to being substituted on, with the pair having to be separated by Joe Gomez and Darwin Nunez.

Following the game, Salah made a comment as he walked through the media area, refusing to conduct interviews with the press.

"If I speak today there will be fire," Salah stated as he refused to discuss the incident.

Klopp was also not very forthcoming on the confrontation after a draw which leaves his team two points off leaders Arsenal and a point behind second-placed Manchester City having played at least a game less than both of their title rivals.

When asked about the Salah dispute, Klopp told TNT Sports: "I'm not in the mood to talk about that to be honest or look at that at all."

Klopp has just three games left of his Liverpool tenure, and despite the success he has endured at Anfield, including a Premier League title and Champions League glory, it's at risk of ending in a damp squib.

Klopp hopes his team can avoid that disappointing conclusion by finding their form again over the remainder of the campaign. 

"We had to win here, we knew that, and we didn't," Klopp continued. "Now we have a little bit more time between now and the next game.

"We try to get the boys ready again and we will go again."

David Moyes insists West Ham still have “half a chance” to reach the Europa League semi-finals despite an agonising 2-0 first-leg defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.

The Hammers defended heroically for 83 minutes of a one-sided encounter against the Bundesliga leaders in Germany.

But late goals from substitutes Jonas Hoffman and Victor Boniface left West Ham with it all to do in next week’s second leg against a team yet to lose a match this season.

Moyes told TNT Sports: “Leverkusen have a good record of scoring late. We were aware of that. We did a great job but we played against a Champions League side and we’re not quite at that level.

“We’re still in the tie and we have half a chance in the second leg.

“We’d like to have played more attacking. The players did a brilliant job with the structure. We got done by two corner kicks. The second one was really poor from our point of view.

“It’s going to take some performance because they’re a really good team. You never know what’s going to happen. Let’s try to get one and then see if we can get two. We’ll pick ourselves up for next week and hopefully get the crowd behind us.

“This team we’re playing will be Champions League next year. We have to recognise what we’re playing against. We’ll have to do exceptionally well to get that result.”

Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianksi made a string of excellent saves to keep the hosts at bay.

The former Poland international, who turns 39 next Thursday, added: “We are very disappointed.

“We worked hard for 80 minutes and then we gave two goals away from set-pieces. Usually defending set-pieces is our strength but you have to give a lot of credit to the opposition because they pushed the whole game.

“The more disappointing thing is that we conceded the second goal. It gives them a bit more confidence. We won’t give up. We have to believe and respond in the second leg.

“I wouldn’t say we ran out of energy. Both teams did their best. In the end the second set-piece felt too easy. It felt like the striker had too much space.

“We have a really good record at home. They’re special magical nights and hopefully the second leg will be the same.”

To make matters worse, West Ham will be without Lucas Paqueta through suspension for the return leg.

Leverkusen’s former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka said: “We knew before the game West Ham would be deep, but we showed one more time we have the quality to beat these teams.

“The second goal helps a lot for the second leg and we’ll have to be focused from the beginning.”

West Ham were breached by two late goals as they slipped to a 2-0 defeat in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final at Bayer Leverkusen.

The Hammers had defended heroically for 83 minutes before goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was finally beaten by substitute Jonas Hoffman.

A one-goal deficit might have given David Moyes’ side hope going into next week’s second leg at the London Stadium, despite facing a side unbeaten all season.

But disaster struck in stoppage time when a second substitute, Victor Boniface, headed home Hofmann’s cross, to leave West Ham’s hopes of a third consecutive European semi-final looking horribly slim.

A yellow card for Lucas Paqueta, ruling the Brazil international out of the second leg, only adds to the task facing the east Londoners.

The Hammers, without injured top scorer Jarrod Bowen and defensive midfield linchpin Edson Alvarez through suspension, were almost undone in the seventh minute when Josip Stanisic’s wayward shot was flicked towards goal by Patrik Schick but the ball went straight to Fabianski.

But Leverkusen were given a warning of West Ham’s prowess on the counter-attack moments later when Michail Antonio outstripped Jonathan Tah on the left wing and produced the best chance of the first half.

The burly frontman squared the ball to Mohammed Kudus, but the Ghana winger’s first-time strike was comfortably held by Matej Kovar.

However, West Ham were largely camped in their own penalty area and Fabianski palmed away Jeremie Frimpong’s curler before Exequiel Palacios’s drive was deflected over.

Paqueta’s over-enthusiastic challenge on Amine Adli earned him his booking – the Brazilian survived a red card check – and provoked a mild skirmish on the touchline.

Fabianski might have suspected he was in for a busy evening and he was proved right, making big saves to keep out dangerous efforts from Alejandro Grimaldo, Shick and Edmond Tapsoba.

Early in the second half Emerson Palmieri was shown a yellow card after catching Adli on the ankle, meaning the left-back will also sit out next week’s return leg.

Frimpong, a former Manchester City youngster, hit a low angled drive straight at Fabianski, before the 38-year-old Pole made a stunning save to tip Shick’s instinctive header over the crossbar.

But with seven minutes remaining Fabianski was powerless to prevent Hoffman’s shot bouncing through a sea of white shirts and into the net after a corner was only half-cleared.

Tomas Soucek cleared two Tah efforts off the line in a desperate finale before Boniface headed the second to leave the Hammers devastated.

David Moyes hopes West Ham have turned a corner after finally beating bogey side Brentford 4-2.

On a night of firsts, Jarrod Bowen scored a first career hat-trick to ease the pressure on boss Moyes after a rotten run of eight matches without a win.

The Hammers won their first match of 2024, with Bowen scoring his first goals since before Christmas and becoming the first Hammers player to hit a treble at the London Stadium.

It means West Ham, for all the talk of their poor form and Moyes’ future, are back up to eighth and in the mix for Europe again.

“Most teams have difficult periods in the Premier League. Manchester City have, Liverpool have, so West Ham are certainly going to be no different,” said Moyes.

“We’ve struggled to get our best team out, but overall if we can get our better players out there we can compete with most teams.”

Bowen scored twice inside the opening seven minutes before Neal Maupay pulled one back for the Bees, who had beaten West Ham in all five of their previous Premier League meetings.

Bowen headed his third midway through the second half and Emerson Palmieri hit a 20-yard rocket before Yoanne Wissa pulled another back.

“I’m really pleased for Jarrod, his performances have gone unnoticed as we’ve not been playing well,” added Moyes.

“Tonight it happened for him, his all-round play, the way he was working, he was a threat all night and hopefully the goals will get him back in (England manager) Gareth (Southgate’s) thinking.

“If you can play wide and you’re a goalscorer you will be of interest to the international manager.”

Maupay, Brentford’s premier wind-up merchant, was seen having a heated discussion with Hammers coach Kevin Nolan as the teams came back out of the tunnel for the second half.

“I actually didn’t know who the row was with, I thought maybe it was with the fourth official. I didn’t see it so I can’t really tell you anything about that,” said Moyes.

Brentford, already plunged deeper into the relegation scrap earlier on Monday following Everton’s points deduction being reduced from 10 to six, suffered another defeat – their 12th in 15 matches since beating West Ham at home in November.

“Today we didn’t hit a good level individually and collectively. West Ham hit a good level, Bowen was unplayable, Emerson hit the top corner and we lost 4-2,” was boss Thomas Frank’s blunt assessment.

“I need to watch the game back because one of the things we’ve been good at is consistent performances. There are very few games where we don’t perform to a certain level and this was only the third this season we’ve been below our level.

Asked whether the Everton situation had an effect, Frank replied “Absolutely not.

“I think right now I’m very irritated with our performance, that’s the main focus.”

Under-pressure West Ham boss David Moyes said he “wins more” than more exciting managers who could replace him as he defended his position.

Angry fans displayed a banner asking for him to be sacked after they lost 2-0 at Nottingham Forest to stretch their winless run to eight games in all competitions.

Six days after a home humiliation to Arsenal, they went down to goals from Taiwo Awoniyi and Callum Hudson-Odoi as Forest gave their survival chances a shot in the arm.

Moyes guided the Hammers to the Europa Conference League title last season, the semi-finals of the Europa League the year before and regularly challenged the top six in the last three years, but supporters have little patience.

The Scot was staunch in his defence and reminded fans of what he has done at the London Stadium.

“I am pretty long in the tooth, you can never please everybody, it would be hard to say there have been many better times at West Ham,” he said.

“Maybe they want something different, but they would honestly have to say it has been the best times they have had at the club with regards winning a European trophy, the league positions.

“Maybe there would be managers who excite them more, possibly, but the one who is sitting here wins more.

“My response would be to say we are hurting really badly as a team and a manager because we have not had good results for five or six weeks now.

“But this year already we have beaten Tottenham, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, we must not forget there were good times not so long ago.

“We have not been playing well, but there are some mitigating circumstances since January 1, with boys going to the African Cup of Nations, Jarrod Bowen came back from England with an injury and has not been the same since, we have been without Lucas Paqueta as well for most of the time so there are things that have affected us.

“I have seen other teams have similar, Newcastle, Man Utd, Man City before the World Championship, Arsenal over Christmas.

“There is no divine right that West Ham don’t have a dicky period at some point in the season. We are hoping we can get back on it.”

Forest won for the first time in the Premier League in 2024 to give themselves some breathing space at the foot of the table.

They were worthy of their first victory in five with Awoniyi and Hudson-Odoi scoring at the end of either half.

Boss Nuno Espirito Santo said: “We played a good game. We were disciplined and aggressive. The boys worked really hard.

“And when we had the ball, we had good spells. We had good combinations and created chances.

“That was the basic and the most important thing for today, to get those details solved. We had to be practical, pragmatic and compact and aggressive in our own box.

“We needed to control set-pieces and not allow too many, because we know how strong West Ham are in that aspect.

“The players did really well. We have to keep going.”

David Moyes was frustrated at not being able to pick Mohammed Kudus for West Ham’s goalless draw against Brighton.

Ghana forward Kudus, arguably West Ham’s best player this season, was unavailable due to his forthcoming participation at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Yet Egypt’s Mohamed Salah was able to play for Liverpool against Newcastle 24 hours earlier, scoring twice in a 4-2 win before the deadline for players to link up with their countries.

In a thinly-disguised dig at the Premier League’s schedulers and the decision to move this match for television a day later, Moyes said: “It feels a bit strange that we’re playing on the second of January.

“Could we not have played on the first and allowed our African players to be allowed to play yesterday, because they can’t play today?

“I feel that’s something which isn’t correct. I just think why couldn’t we have our African players the same as everybody else?

“Brighton might have had players at the Asian Games – I know (Kaoru) Mitoma’s injured I think – but they might have the same feeling.

“It’s nothing to do with the performance, Brighton were without lots of good players and we were without lots of good players.

“But I don’t see at this point why you would play a game and be disadvantaged by some of your players not being able to play. I’m not saying any more.”

The decision to move the match for television looked even more baffling as two weary teams fought out a lifeless goalless draw.

Given that it was West Ham’s ninth game in a month, and Brighton’s eighth, the managers would probably have shaken hands on a draw before kick-off and gone to watch the darts instead.

Tomas Soucek stabbed West Ham’s best chance wide but Brighton were the better side after the break, with Hammers keeper Alphonse Areola making fine saves to deny Danny Welbeck and Adam Lallana.

“Overall we’ve had a brilliant Christmas period on the points front,” added Moyes, whose side began the year inside the top six. “I’m thrilled to win three, including Arsenal and Manchester United, and draw one. From a points point of view we’ve done really well.

“It’s the first time this season we’ve looked really jaded and tired tonight but all the boys have done a brilliant job. Brighton have been our bogey club in recent years and we’ve taken four points off them this season. But I want it to be better and I know it has to get better.”

Seagulls boss Roberto De Zerbi had little doubt what was missing from his side.

“A goal,” was his simple response.

“Today we deserved to win but we played an amazing game, one of the best in my time.

“West Ham are very good in counter-attack and we played a smart game. I can’t say anything about my players because I’m delighted with the performance.

“We have injuries but we have great character and great spirit.”

Weary West Ham and burned-out Brighton served up a lifeless goalless draw to dent both sides’ top-five ambitions.

Two makeshift teams were missing 16 first-team players between them through injury, illness or suspension, and in West Ham’s case also due to the Africa Cup of Nations which has cost them the services of in-form forward Mohammed Kudus for a month.

Given that it was West Ham’s ninth game in a month, and Brighton’s eighth, managers David Moyes and Roberto De Zerbi would probably have shaken hands on a draw before kick-off and gone to watch the darts instead.

As it was, 60,000 people had to battle a storm to get to the London Stadium before sitting through a match played at a snail’s pace.

It was Brighton’s first goalless draw in 48 Premier League games, their last coming against Nottingham Forest in October 2022.

There was at least something to celebrate for midfielder James Milner, whose 632nd Premier League appearance moved him level with former Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs for second on the all-time list.

During an opening half an hour of new year lethargy, West Ham had a half-hearted penalty appeal waved away when Edson Alvarez tripped over Billy Gilmour’s leg. Emerson Palmieri then scuffed a shot wide.

James Ward-Prowse saw a volley well saved by Jason Steele before Jarrod Bowen’s cross was headed over the crossbar by Konstantinos Mavropanos.

Said Benrahma, left out of Algeria’s AFCON squad, was handed a rare chance by Moyes in the absence of Kudus and Lucas Paqueta and the winger made one mazy run inside from the left wing only to curl his shot wide.

West Ham were marginally the more adventurous team but Brighton probably had the best two chances of the first half.

First Ben Johnson was booked for a foul on Facundo Buonanotte 25 yards out and from Pascal Gross’ cross, Alphonse Areola palmed away a far-post Danny Welbeck header and then saved the rebound from Jack Hinshelwood.

Gross then got in between West Ham’s centre-halves but planted his header from Milner’s cross too close to Areola.

After the break Welbeck’s fierce shot forced a fine diving save from Areola with Milner, who turns 38 on Thursday, skying the rebound.

West Ham should have broken the deadlock on the hour when Benrahma’s cross was deflected into the path of Tomas Soucek but the Czech midfielder stabbed his effort wide.

But Brighton finished stronger and Evan Ferguson, on as a substitute, almost had an immediate impact with a low drive which beat the dive of Areola but rolled inches past the far post.

Jakub Moder blazed over from close range and Areola made another decent save to deny Adam Lallana and preserve a point for the hosts.

Erik Ten Hag insists Manchester United have goals in them despite drawing another blank in a dispiriting 2-0 defeat at West Ham.

The Red Devils have now gone four matches in a row without scoring for the first time since 1992 after another limp display.

But beleaguered boss Ten Hag said: “We have players who can do it. They’ve proved in the past they can do it.

“But we also have to acknowledge the fact that we didn’t do it as a team. We have to take responsibility. Football is about winning games and scoring goals.

“We have issues. We have had many setbacks and injuries, etc. But the players on the pitch are good enough to win the game. Get into the box, make sure you’re there, make sure you have the willingness to arrive and willingness to score goals.

“They are capable of it. I know (Marcus) Rashford can score, (Rasmus) Hojlund can score, (Alejandro) Garnacho can score, Bruno (Fernandez) can score, Scott McTominay can score.

“We have scoring abilities in our squad and also from set plays. At this moment we’re not doing it. They have to stick together and believe in themselves that they can do it.

“To get where you have to be to score and that is to get in the box especially in the double six-yard box, you have to arrive as a striker.”

The stats make grim reading for United following a 13th defeat in 26 matches this season – the most they have lost before Christmas since 1931.

A 20th defeat in 2023 is also their worst tally in a calendar year since 1989.

Late goals from  Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus secured victory for West Ham to lift them above United in the Premier League table.

Yet for 72 minutes two poor teams were cancelling each other out in a dreadful spectacle until Bowen broke the deadlock.

“I thought whoever scored the first goal would probably win the game and thankfully we got it,” admitted manager David Moyes.

West Ham are now back in and around the top six, an achievement Moyes feels is all the more impressive given the rebuild he has undertaken since selling Declan Rice to Arsenal.

“I think when you sell England’s best player at the moment and you’re still challenging… we’ve tried to pull another team together, we’ve made some signings, now at this time of the season we’ve got 30 points,” he added.

“It’s a brilliant number of points for us at West Ham because we’re not going to be a club rattling right at the top – we’ll try to, but until we keep growing and improving a bit every year that’s all we can do.

“I think we’re making pretty good strides and today was another good victory. We can do better but while we’re doing that we’re still picking up points and moving along.”

Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus consigned makeshift Manchester United to another defeat as West Ham snatched a 2-0 victory at the London Stadium.

England hopeful Bowen scored his 12th goal of the season and Ghana winger Kudus his seventh in 12 appearances as United were sent spinning to a 20th loss of 2023, their worst tally in 34 years.

For 72 minutes two poor teams were cancelling each other out in a dreadful spectacle until Bowen broke the deadlock.

And six minutes later Kudus added a second which, while flattering West Ham, condemned United to a 13th defeat in their last 26 matches.

With Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane all absent, United boss Erik Ten Hag was forced to draft 19-year-old Willy Kambwala in at centre-half for a first senior appearance.

Kambwala acquitted himself well enough but it was another lifeless performance from a thoroughly dispirited side.

The only saving grace for United for long periods was that West Ham, ‘fresh’ from their midweek Carabao Cup mauling at Liverpool, were just as bad.

That was despite David Moyes playing his strongest team, having made six changes for the chastening 5-1 Anfield defeat.

After 33 turgid minutes Antony came up with United’s first shot on target, a tame 20-yard effort easily held by Alphonse Areola.

Moments later came the best chance of the opening period, Antony playing in Alejandro Garnacho whose low finish was kept out by the right boot of Areola.

Garnacho saw another chance deflected over before Areola fumbled a Kobbie Mainoo drive which he was relieved to see roll wide.

Antony’s low cross then just evaded Rasmus Hojlund with a stretching Garnacho only able to turn the ball into the side-netting.

Just before half-time Tomas Soucek met a James Ward-Prowse free-kick with a header which flew wide.

But a horrible, hotch-potch of a first half was probably best summed up when Soucek needed lengthy treatment on a facial injury inflicted by the back of the head of his own team-mate, Emerson Palmieri.

After the break Andre Onana did well to tip a powerful Bowen header from Ward-Prowse’s corner over the crossbar.

Ten Hag introduced the out-of-favour Marcus Rashford for the ineffective Hojlund just before the hour.

But it was Bowen who made the breakthrough when he played the ball to Lucas Paqueta, collected the return pass and bundled the ball in off Onana.

And Brazil star Paqueta was the creator once more with his fifth assist in a row in the Premier League.

He slipped in Kudus to kill off United with a fine low finish to deepen the gloom surrounding Ten Hag’s sorry side.

West Ham are still being affected by the sickness bug that contributed to their 5-0 rout by Fulham on Sunday.

David Moyes has revealed that some players are struggling with illness as the Hammers look to finish top of Group A of the Europa League by securing at least a draw against SC Freiburg on Thursday night.

The London Stadium clash is the first of four matches in three competitions over 10 days for West Ham, who have already qualified for the knockout phase but are hoping to progress as top seeds and thereby avoid the burden of a play-off over two legs.

“We’ve had a few people with a bit of illness. We’ve still got a few lingering with it in the last day or two, but we think we’re OK,” Moyes said.

“I don’t think it’s anything that will keep people out for weeks or anything like that, there has just been a bit of sickness and all sorts going on. It’s just been keeping us under the weather a little bit.”

West Ham leaked five goals at Craven Cottage, ending a six-match unbeaten run which had lifted them to ninth in the Premier League as well as offering sight of direct entry into the Europa League’s round of 16.

“I obviously didn’t enjoy the weekend’s game. Whatever happened before that doesn’t make it any easier,” said Moyes, who gave his players two days off at the start of the week in anticipation of the hectic period coming up.

“We’ve had a really gruelling schedule and the trips we’ve had caught up with us a little bit.

“Hopefully we can correct that and get back to our normal way which is winning and playing better than we did do.

“We had a little bit of illness that didn’t help with the chopping and changing. Hopefully we can get back to normality.”

West Ham are the current Europa Conference League champions after toppling Fiorentina 2-1 in the final in June and Moyes sees the competition as an important stage for his team.

“The last few years we’ve had some really good nights at London Stadium. I think back to Seville and Alkmaar,” he said.

“Some of the games have been special, special nights for us. But we’re not quite at that stage yet, it’s still the group.

“We’ve won the group for the last two years and winning it three years in a row would be really tough because Freiburg are a good team.

“We’re in Europe after Christmas and that’s the most important thing, whether we’re first or second. We’ll try to be first, but that’s the big thing for us.

“The Premier League will always be first and foremost for me, but the cup competitions are something that we take as seriously as we can.”