Van Nistelrooy Seals Utd Win
Ruud van Nistelrooy marked his return to the Manchester United starting line-up with the only goal of the match as his team deservedly beat West Ham.
Van Nistelrooy, a substitute for the last five games, smashed Ji-Sung Park’s pass into the bottom corner from eight yards in first half injury time.
Vidic and Rooney both hit the post while Shaka Hislop saved from Pique and Van Nistelrooy.
United have won their last seven Premiership matches and move to within nine points of leaders Chelsea while taking a five point lead over Liverpool in the race for second place.
“It was a very open game,” said United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
“Both teams had a go and we played some fantastic attacking football.”
“We should have had more goals but we collected another three points and that takes us five above Liverpool.”
“The most important thing is that we keep winning - and you never know where that will take us.”
West Ham boss Alan Pardew said: “We gave an honest account of ourselves but from our part it could have been slightly better.”
“This is a big stage, they have some very good players and we find them in good form so it was a tough ask for us.”
“Sometimes you have to have little bit of devilment in your game. I thought we lacked that, not just individually, but as a team.”
