United 1 West Ham 0

struck James Collins and looped over the hapless Finnish stopper.

As much as the Dutchman benefited from a huge stroke of luck, his skill in the goal’s build-up, dinking the ball over Winston Reid before rounding the defender to effectively collect his own pass, was breathtaking in its execution.

Kevin Nolan came close to equalising on 11 minutes when he flicked on Matt Taylor’s wide free-kick at the near post but not before he’d scythed down Tom Cleverley to earn the game’s first booking.

West Ham made a mockery of suggestions that Sam Allardyce’s teams only play long-ball football. The visitors preferred to play a patient passing game, working the ball out wide for either Taylor or Matt Jarvis to whip crosses in to Andy Carroll.

Carroll did volley over on 27 minutes after the ball fell to him following a route-one free-kick but the striker largely struggled to impose himself on the game.

Down the other end, Hernandez forced a smart save from Jaaskelainen down to his left when the Mexican made space for himself on the edge of the area and unleashed a wicked drive from 20 yards. Anderson then sliced high and wide, while Evra couldn’t find the final ball after good vision from van Persie to find the left-back in acres of space.