De Gea error gifts Benrahma a goal and West Ham win over Manchester United

This was Moyesball at its most effective. West Ham never looked likely to let the points out of their grasp once they had the lead. David Moyes’s side simply swarmed all over Manchester United, making it horrible, feeding off the passion of the London Stadium crowd, and the worry for Erik ten Hag will be that his side’s latest stumble on the road could not be explained away simply by pointing to David de Gea’s error for the goal that breathed life back into the race for the top four.

United were loose in all departments. They almost saved themselves from a second consecutive away defeat at the start of added time, Anthony Martial twice going close to a dramatic equaliser, but they should not kid themselves.

United, whose lead over Liverpool is down to a point, were flat after falling behind to Saïd Benrahma’s goal. Moyes deserved this win over his old side. It took West Ham seven points above the bottom three and filled them with optimism before their Europa Conference League semi-final against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday.

United began with the right attitude, controlling possession, their defeat to Brighton seemingly out of their system. A major issue for this team, though, has been a tendency to squander dominant positions. Profligacy cost them when they threw away a 2-0 lead against Tottenham and, while there was much to admire about the way they pushed West Ham back, Ten Hag must have been concerned at United’s failure to hit the target with five presentable opportunities during the first 20 minutes.

The first miss came inside the second minute, Marcus Rashford bending wide after surging away from Angelo Ogbonna and swapping passes with Christian Eriksen, and there would be more to come. Fatigue did not appear to be a