- Giggs (62)
- Date:2009-02-08
- Kick-off:16:00
- Venue:Upton Park
- Attendance:34958
- Referee:Dowd, P
Live Commentary
90mins
Full-Time: WEST HAM 0-1 MAN UTD.
90mins
Rio Ferdinand saves the day for United, Vidic missed Parker's ball into the box with Tristan lurking but Ferdinand gets the ball away for United.
90mins
Savio sends a cross towards Carlton Cole but Vidic clears for United.
90mins
Cristiano Ronaldo lines up a free-kick. He takes a massive run-up but his shot goes straight into the West Ham wall.
89mins
Parker tries to feed in Di Michele but his pass is poor and United clear.
87mins
Ronaldo goes down under Lucas Neill's challenge, Ronaldo is looking for a penalty but referee Phil Dowd waves play on.
86mins
Diego Tristan replaces Valon Behrami (West Ham)
86mins
Ji-Sung Park replaces Carlos Tevez (United)
86mins
Ronaldo feeds Tevez inside the West Ham box but his shot goes way over the bar.
83mins
Berbatov and Tevez work well on the break but Tevez's shot drifts wide of the West Ham goal.
82mins
West Ham are pressing for an equaliser but United doing well to keep them out.
81mins
Savio floats a free kick into the United box but Cristiano Ronaldo, who conceded the free kick, heads clear.
80mins
Collison's cross is met by Carlton Cole but his control lets him down and Michael Carrick manages to clear.
76mins
Mark Noble makes way for Savio Nsereko (West Ham)
74mins
Neill tries his luck from range but his shot flies well over the bar.
70mins
Ronaldo cuts in from the left and fires a decent effort towards the West Ham goal but his attempt is deflected wide.
67mins
Cole tries to even things up but his long-range effort is well wide of Van der Sar's goal.
62mins
WEST HAM 0-1 MAN UTD: A superb piece of individual skill from GIGGS gives United the lead. He beat Cole on the left wing, cut inside and fired past Rob Green with a neat right-footed shot.
62mins
Upson does well to head clear after Ronaldo had managed to get on to Giggs' corner. United are looking the better side at the moment.
60mins
VIDIC is finally shown a yellow card by Phil Dowd. He might have had a word with his assistant. In the meantime West Ham waste the free-kick
59mins
West Ham win a free kick in a good position after Vidic pulls back Cole, the serbian was perhaps a little fortunate not to be shown a yellow card.
58mins
Lucas NEILL is penalised for shoving Cristiano Ronaldo.
56mins
Carlos Tevez meets Giggs' cross but the Argentine heads well wide.
54mins
Carlton Cole does well to pick out Noble on the right but his cross is poor and the chance for the Hammers is wasted.
49mins
Neill tests Van der Sar from range but it will take a better effort to beat the United keeper and he saves fairly easily.
47mins
West Ham win a corner after Behrami's shot is deflected wide, however the deflection came off Di Michele.
46mins
The second half gets underway.
45mins
Half-Time: WEST HAM 0-0 MAN UTD. The half-time whistle goes to bring an entertaining first half to an end.
45mins
There's one minute of stoppage time.
45mins
Carlton Cole shoots against Nemanja Vidic and Manchester United can clear.
44mins
Edwin van der Sar doesn't get to the ball from the corner but Phil Dowd awards him a free-kick.
43mins
Scott Parker drives the ball forward and wins West Ham a corner.
41mins
Sir Alex Ferguson has made his way into the technical area for the first time, signalling instructions to his team.
40mins
Cristiano Ronaldo whips in a dangerous-looking cross but it evades everyone.
38mins
West Ham are working hard to close Manchester United down when they're in possession.
37mins
Cristiano Ronaldo's cross is flicked on by Carlos Tevez but into the hands of Robert Green.
35mins
Valon Behrami almost picks out David Di Michele in the area but Edwin van der Sar intercepts the pass.
33mins
There's a great pace to the game and both sides are playing well.
31mins
Ryan Giggs picks out Paul Scholes on the edge of the area and his shot is deflected for yet another corner, which is well held by Robert Green.
30mins
Da Silva Rafael wins a dubious free-kick in a promising position and the West Ham fans aren't happy.
29mins
The whistle goes for a free-kick as Robert Green is impeded from the corner.
29mins
Paul Scholes has a drive from distance which is deflected wide and the visitors have another corner.
27mins
Ryan Giggs sends in another corner and Cristiano Ronaldo rises well but heads the ball over the bar.
26mins
Carlton Cole has a great chance but Rio Ferdinand gets to the ball first to deny him.
25mins
Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez combine well to force a clearance from Robert Green.
23mins
Manchester United have forced a number of corners now but West Ham have been able to defend them well so far.
21mins
Paul Scholes's shot is deflected and Dimitar Berbatov knocks the ball into the net but the offside flag is up.
20mins
Cristiano Ronaldo crosses to the near post and West Ham clear for a corner.
19mins
Dimitar Berbatov tries a cross to Carlos Tevez but just overhits the pass and Robert Green can clear.
18mins
There's a great atmosphere inside Upton Park.
16mins
Cristiano Ronaldo is tripped by Lucas Neill and wins a free-kick, which comes to nothing.
14mins
David Di Michele tries a backheel across the penalty area towards Carlton Cole but Manchester United clear the ball.
13mins
Mark Noble's through pass finds Carlton Cole who runs straight at goal but his effort is saved by Edwin van der Sar.
12mins
Lucas Neill has a low hard shot which is straight at Edwin van der Sar.
11mins
Nemanja Vidic heads just over his own crossbar and West Ham have their first corner.
10mins
Manchester United have settled into the game and are passing the ball around.
9mins
Scott Parker sees Edwin van der Sar slightly off his line and goes for goal from the centre circle, but the Dutchman easily makes the catch.
8mins
Giggs is found by Berbatov but is denied by a sliding challenge from Matthew Upson in the area.
7mins
Giggs' first corner is headed high over the bar by Nemanja Vidic.
6mins
Scott Parker puts in a brilliant tackle to deny Dimitar Berbatov on the edge of the area.
4mins
Ryan Giggs screws the ball wide after being found by a searching pass from Paul Scholes.
2mins
West Ham have started brightly and Carlton Cole has already made a couple of runs into the penalty area.
1mins
Referee Phil Dowd gets the game underway.
0mins
Manchester United make three changes, with Rafael in for Gary Neville, Paul Scholes replacing Darren Fletcher and Ryan Giggs in for Ji-Sung Park.
0mins
West Ham are unchanged from the team that drew 0-0 against Arsenal, with new signing Radoslav Kovac on the bench.
0mins
We should be in for a cracking game as the Premier League's two in-form teams clash at Upton Park.
Match Preview
Edwin van der Sar will be looking to keep his 13th clean sheet in a row when league leaders Manchester United travel to Upton Park on Sunday.
While title rivals Chelsea and Liverpool have all stuttered recently, Sir Alex Ferguson's side have hit a rich vein of form since losing 2-1 at Arsenal at the beginning of November.
United have won ten and drawn two games without conceding a goal since that setback to move two points clear of second-placed Liverpool and they still have a match in hand.
The unbeaten run has come despite a string of injury problems but they finally appear to be easing.
Wayne Rooney could return to action after missing the last five matches with the hamstring injury he suffered in the 1-0 victory against Wigan Athletic, while Patrice Evra has recovered form the ankle problem he sustained in last month's win against Chelsea.
Nani is also available following his groin injury against Derby County in the Carling Cup semi-final second leg but Rafael (hamstring), Anderson (foot), Jonny Evans (ankle) and Owen Hargreaves (knee) all miss out once again.
United won't find it easy at Upton Park though against an in-form Hammers side and on a ground where they have a poor record.
They have lost on their last two visits to east London and have only tasted victory on 11 occasions in 55 attempts.
Gianfranco Zola's side are on a high, in sharp contrast to the gloom that was enveloping the club just over a month ago.
The January transfer window was viewed with dread and a host of big names were expected to leave the club with Zola's side predicted to face a battle to avoid relegation in the last four months of the campaign.
As it transpired, the mass exodus never materialised and the supposedly cash-strapped club even managed to bring in Radoslav Kovac and Savio Nsereko.
On the pitch, the Hammers have reached the FA Cup fifth round and are unbeaten in their last six league matches, since losing 1-0 to Aston Villa just before Christmas.
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Match Report
Recalled Ryan Giggs sent the reigning champions racing up into pole position thanks to his first Premier League goal of the season.
The Welshman's 62nd-minute winner enabled United to leapfrog Liverpool into top spot on an afternoon when Edwin van der Sar also made it 1,212 minutes without conceding a goal, to break Chris Woods' British goalkeeping record.
With just one defeat in 22 matches in all competitions, Sir Alex Ferguson's side had come into this contest on a run of seven straight Premier League victories.
Indeed, they had not lost a game or conceded a goal in the top-flight since 8 November, when Samir Nasri fired Arsenal to victory at The Emirates, a dozen Premiership games ago.
Following last week's victory over Everton, the World Club Champions made three changes as that man Giggs, Rafael and Paul Scholes came in for Gary Neville (virus) and substitutes Ji-Sung Park and Darren Fletcher.
Unbeaten in eight matches in all competitions, West Ham United had been doing quite nicely themselves and, following their goalless draw at Arsenal last Saturday, Gianfranco Zola's in-form eighth-placed side were unchanged.
And with Wednesday's midweek clash with Spain looming, another Italian coach - Fabio Capello - was at Upton Park, too, to run his eye over the called-up Robert Green, Matthew Upson and Carlton Cole plus ex-Hammers Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick.
Certainly it was the east-enders that enjoyed the best of the first half and, with the minutes ticking down to that remarkable resistance record, van der Sar had to be on his toes to stop Lucas Neill's low 18-yarder, before holding Cole's cheeky chip after the confidence-charged Hammers striker had out-muscled Ferdinand inside the United area.
And on 25 minutes, Jack Collison's bulldozing run into the box almost carved out another opening for Cole but, with his back to goal, he was ambushed by a pack of defenders and the chance was lost.
With the tough-tackling Scott Parker, Upson and the impressive James Collins forming an equally solid shield in front of Green, the visitors found themselves continually frustrated in the opening period.
Despite forcing seven first-half corners, the closest United came to breaking the deadlock was when Giggs' clever flag kick found Scholes, whose blistering 20-yarder looped off Collins before being palmed over by the alert Green, while Cristiano Ronaldo also sent a bullet-header wastefully wide from another one of the Welsh wizard's crosses.
West Ham started the second half in mean mood, too, and Neill again had van der Sar diving at full length to save another 18-yarder as the determined Dutchman moved himself closer to Woods' record.
In reply, former Hammers hero, Carlos Tevez, nodded Ronaldo's well-flighted, free-kick wide, before Neill received referee Phil Dowd's 50th yellow card of the campaign for upending the Portuguese playmaker.
Nemanja Vidic then became offender number 51 for hauling down the breaking Cole, who endured more agony on 62 minutes, when he rashly dived in on Giggs out on the left flank and, having just collected from Scholes, the now unmarked Welshman then ghosted past Neill, before firing a low 15-yarder through a pack of bodies to break the deadlock.
Zola responded by replacing Mark Noble with £9million signing Savio Nsereko for the final quarter-hour but, by now, there was no way past the United defence, whose place at the top of table was assured alongside van der Sar's clean-sheet record.
West Ham United Team
Manchester United Team
West Ham United | Manchester United |
Corners
| 5 | 11 |
Fouls
| 14 | 8 |
Goal attempts
| 9 | 11 |
Shots off target
| 4 | 5 |
Offsides
| 2 | 1 |



90mins
Collison's shot goes wide and that has to be it for West Ham now.