Manchester United suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat to West Ham United on Saturday after goals from Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus.
This is their ninth defeat of the season, with the result likely to bring further pressure on manager Erik ten Hag.
West Ham, recovering from a bruising 5-1 defeat to Liverpool in the League Cup in midweek, move up to sixth on 30 points.
United, who have not scored in their last four games in all competitions, drop to eighth on 28 points.
“We didn’t start particularly well but we kept ourselves in the game,” Hammers boss David Moyes said.
Moyes said his side’s return of 30 points at this stage in the season was “a brilliant number of points for us”.
He added, “We are not going to be a club who’s going to be rattling right at the top – we’ll try to – but until we grow, keep growing, keep improving, try to improve a bit every year, that’s all we can do.
“I think we’re making pretty good strides and I think today was another good victory.”
The defeat is another blow for Ten Hag, whose increasingly tenuous hold on his job will surely be the first thing for Jim Ratcliffe to resolve when the British billionaire finally completes the purchase of 25 percent of the club.
It has been a dreadful second season for Ten Hag, whose team have been eliminated from Europe completely after finishing bottom of their Champions League group, while also crashing out of the League Cup.
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