Van’s early strike keeps United top

Man United 1 West Ham 0

This was a far from vintage United performance, particularly in light of the dream start handed them by their Dutch forward, but at least Alex Ferguson could take comfort in the fact that, having gone behind in nine of their opening 13 league games, here, they bucked the trend.

And what a way in which to do it. Van Persie collected an accurate through ball from Michael Carrick, turning Winston Reid with a deft flick and scoring, via an unkind deflection off defender James Collins. Van Persie and United may have enjoyed a large slice of good fortune with the finish but it was no more than the forward deserved for the execution of the build-up.