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Premier League: West Ham dominates Manchester United

By Alex Butler
West Ham United's Felipe Anderson (R) scores during an English Premier League soccer match between West Ham and Manchester United on Saturday at the London Stadium in Stratford, east London. Photo by Andy Rain/EPA-EFE
West Ham United's Felipe Anderson (R) scores during an English Premier League soccer match between West Ham and Manchester United on Saturday at the London Stadium in Stratford, east London. Photo by Andy Rain/EPA-EFE

Sept. 29 (UPI) -- West Ham United's Felipe Anderson began a 3-1 rout of Manchester United with a blind back heel score on Saturday in London.

The initial tally came in the fifth minute and West Ham never looked back in the Premier League clash at London Stadium. Right back Pablo Zabaleta saved the ball from going out of bounds at the start of the sequence. He slid to save the ball from the sideline, while sending a pass back to Mark Noble on the United half.

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Noble then sniped a through ball back to Zabaleta down the right flank, leading him into the box. Zabaleta used his first touch to rip a pass in front of the goal. Anderson came flying in, before turning his back toward the goal. Anderson brought in the pass and used the back of his right boot to flick the ball into the far post netting, beating United's David de Gea.

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West Ham gave the credit to United for its second score, which came on an own goal from Victor Lindelof in the 43rd minute. West Ham took a corner kick to spark that sequence. Andriy Yarmolenko brought the ball in and momentarily toyed with the defense, before blasting a shot. The rip deflected off of Lindelof and bounced into the near post netting.

West Ham took the two goal lead into the half, before Marcus Rashford split the United deficit in the 71st minute. Left back Luke Shaw took a corner kick on that play, sending it close to Rashford. The United star went airborne, lifting off and flicking the ball with the outside of his right boot, beating Lukasz Fabianski for the Red Devils' only score.

Marko Arnautovic put the game away in the 74th minute, beating de Gea on a one-on-one. Noble received the ball just past midfield on the Red Devils' half. He briefly scanned the field before lacing a through ball to a wide-open Arnautovic inside the box. Arnautovic took a tap with his left foot to settle, before ripping a shot into the near post netting past de Gea.

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"We were a team that comes with that mental fragility of a bad result [the Derby match]," United manager Jose Mourinho told BT Sport and MUTV. "Coming here and after five minutes we were losing 1-0, which is not the best way to start."

"The goal was offside and, last Tuesday with the VAR, it would not have been a goal. Then in the first half we had a good reaction but an own goal makes 2-0. An own goal where we knew Yarmolenko is very, very left-footed, we had to cover that side, we had Matic on the ball and Luke Shaw and Lindelof very close by, but we were not aggressive enough to close that shot and then we were losing 2-0."

United battles Valencia in the group stage of the Champions League at 3 p.m. on Tuesday at Old Trafford in Manchester, England. West Ham takes on Brighton at 3 p.m. on Friday at Falmer Stadium in Brighton, England.

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