West Ham scored twice in six minutes to condemn Manchester United to an eighth Premier League defeat of the season at the London Stadium.
It took 72 minutes of a drab encounter for West Ham to find the opener when Lucas Paqueta lifted the ball into Jarrod Bowen’s path and the Hammers’ top scorer this season bundled past Andre Onana.
Mohammed Kudus, who has scored in his last three home games for West Ham, latched onto Kobbie Mainoo’s defensive error to drill into the bottom corner and double the home side’s lead.
Manchester United have won just one match out of their last five in the top flight and Erik ten Hag’s side have lost more games than they have won this season across all competitions.
As a result West Ham leapfrog them into sixth place in the table as United drop to eighth.
Bowen said that the Irons want to be in the “top six, minimum”, while manager David Moyes said it was “amazing” to be in the top six going into Christmas.
“We want to be [in the top six],” Bowen told Match of the Day.
“But I think you look at the top 10 and it’s probably the most open it’s ever been with teams coming in – Aston Villa, even they’re in the top four, Brighton and Chelsea are top sides.
“All we can do is win our games but we want to be in that top six minimum, for sure.”
Manchester United host unexpected title-challengers Aston Villa on Boxing Day while West Ham travel to Arsenal on Thursday 28 December.
