A second half Ryan Giggs goal was enough for Manchester United to battle to a 1-0 win over West Ham United at Upton Park on Sunday afternoon.

Carlton Cole had the best opportunity of the first half for West Ham, shooting straight at Edwin van der Sar after breaking clear of the Red Devils’ defence, before Cristiano Ronaldo came close with two efforts for the visitors.

After the break, Giggs opened the scoring with an impressive individual goal and that proved to be enough with the Hammers unable to find an equaliser despite some long spells in possession.

The result means that United replace Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table, while West Ham remain in eighth place.

Team News

West Ham were unchanged from the team that drew 0-0 with Arsenal in their last outing. Radoslav Kovac, the club’s new signing, was on the substitutes’ bench, as was record-buy Savio Nsereko.

Gary Neville was ill for Manchester United, which meant Rafael da Silva came in at right-back. Ji-Sung Park and Darren Fletcher dropped to the bench as Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes came into the side, with the Red Devils lining up in a 4-4-2 formation as Giggs returned to wide berth after starting recent games in central midfield.

First Half

The home side came quickly out of the traps and tested the Red Devils with a couple of early efforts.

West Ham captain Lucas Neill shot straight at United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar after a corner was not properly cleared in the 12th minute.

Within 60 seconds of that chance, the Hammers created the best opportunity of the half when Scott Parker and Mark Noble sent through Carlton Cole, recently called up to the England squad, after some neat passing.

The striker out-muscled Rio Ferdinand to earn himself space, but attempted to chip van der Sar when the best option may have been to shoot at power – the Dutch keeper comfortably dealing with his attempt.

The visitors rallied as the half progressed, Dimitar Berbatov rightfully having a ‘goal’ ruled out for offside, before Cristiano Ronaldo powerfully headed just wide after a Ryan Giggs corner in the 27th minute.

Ronaldo came close again on the half hour mark when he diverted Paul Scholes’ shot towards goal, but England international Robert Green was there to tip the ball over the crossbar.

Cole then had another effort blocked by Nemanja Vidic as the half came to an end without too many clear opportunities having been created.

Second Half

Right after the interval, Neill had a left-footed effort from edge of penalty box for the Hammers, which was comfortably dealt with by van der Sar.

Then, in the 62nd minute, the breakthrough arrived for Manchester United. Scholes worked the ball out wide to the left, where Giggs was in space. The veteran winger then cut inside into the area, skipped past Cole and Scott Parker before striking a right-footed shot into the far corner to complete a superb individual goal.

Initially, the Hammers responded well as Cole fired wide from 20 yards, before the ex-Chelsea player was denied by a Rio Ferdinand block after Noble’s cut-back.

As time progressed, though, West Ham founded it harder to find space and were frustrated by the visitors, who were working hard when they did not have possession.

Ronaldo had a shot which deflected narrowly wide as the clock started to wind down, the winger frustrated not to score in a day where he was very much involved in the action.

The World Player of the Year then had a penalty claim turned down with two minutes remaining, but it would not prove costly for the Red Devils, who held firm to secure the three points.

In keeping another clean-sheet, van der Sar and the United defence broke the overall British record for the most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal, which adds to the English record achieved in their win over Everton last week.

Chris Myson, Goal.com