Alejandro Garnacho netted twice after Rasmus Højlund scored on his 21st birthday at Old Trafford as Manchester United beat West Ham 3-0 to climb above the visitors into sixth place in the Premier League on Sunday.
Following their 4-3 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Thursday, Erik ten Hag’s team now have 38 points after 23 games and are eight adrift of fourth spot. West Ham are seventh with 36.
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Højlund scored in the 23rd minute when Casemiro prodded the ball forward after West Ham failed to clear a high ball. The Denmark international knocked the ball past a couple of defenders before firing home from the centre of the box into the bottom corner.
“It was very good. It’s always special to play on your birthday but today of course with the win, yeah,” Hojlund told Sky Sports.
“A month ago there was a lot of talk about us [Højlund and Garnacho] not scoring enough goals but we are both young and growing every day. You can see the connection between us.”
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The forward, who did not score his first league goal until Dec. 26, became the youngest player in United’s history to score in four consecutive Premier League appearances.
Garnacho, 19, doubled the lead in the 49th minute after his shot from the corner of the box took a big deflection to send substitute goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski the wrong way.
The Argentine netted his second in the 84th minute after Kalvin Phillips lost the ball and Scott McTominay pounced, finding Garnacho in the box.
“I am enjoying it a lot playing for this club with this stadium and the fans,” Garnacho said. “We are happy.”
His first goal came seconds after arguably West Ham’s best chance when an error from Harry Maguire saw Emerson left on his own but the Brazilian fired his shot well over the bar.
Defender and former captain Maguire was making his first start since Dec. 12 when he limped off with a groin injury in the 1-0 home defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Ten Hag’s team have now scored 11 goals in their last three games — including a 4-2 win at Newport County in the FA Cup fourth round — after managing 10 goals in their previous 10 games.
Goalkeeper Andre Onana also came up with several terrific saves in his second game since returning from international duty with Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations.