West Ham United ended their nine-match October with a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.
A first half header from Marcus Rashford, his 100th goal for the club, proved to be enough to earn Erik ten Hag’s side three points and extend the career record of Hammers boss David Moyes to 70 league matches away at United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea without ever winning.
Here are the talking points from Old Trafford, where West Ham missed the chance to return to the top half of the Premier League table and climb above Liverpool.
READ MORE: Every word West Ham's David Moyes said on Manchester United, David de Gea and 'big six' results
Another narrow top-six loss
For the fifth time this season, West Ham have failed to beat a ‘top six’ side and on all five occasions, the Hammers have fallen narrowly short of getting what they could have.
Their joint-heaviest defeat of the season, a 2-0 loss to Manchester City on the opening weekend of the campaign, saw them play with a patched up defence and it was only the two clear cut chances they had in the game, both scored by Erling Haaland, they did not give Pep Guardiola’s side too much joy.
Against Tottenham Hotspur at the end of August, they came from behind to draw 1-1 at the London Stadium, but again had chances to have earned a derby day winner.
Three days later, they went to Chelsea and lost 2-1 with the Blues scoring two late goals at Stamford Bridge and substitute Maxwel Cornet having a late goal incorrectly disallowed following a VAR check.
Earlier this month, in the trip to Liverpool, they lost 1-0 after a first half header. On that day, Jarrod Bowen missed a first half penalty and Tomas Soucek saw a late effort cut out by some miraculous James Milner defending.
Again, that was the case at Old Trafford, there were plenty of West Ham chances after Rashford’s goal. Declan Rice and Michail Antonio forced David De Gea into some excellent saves from distance, while the Spanish stopper produced an even better effort to keep out a late Kurt Zouma header.
The biggest frustration once again will be that West Ham looked more threatening, more purposeful and more likely to score late on and after going behind in the game. Had they shown that quality early on, they could well have earned enough to not leave Old Trafford empty handed, and would have deserved to as well.
A pleasing October, but it could have been better
In all competitions, West Ham have played nine matches this month, concluding their October fixtures with defeat to United.
Of the nine, six were in the Premier League, picking up ten points from a possible 18 with three wins, a draw and defeats at Anfield and Old Trafford, as well as three wins from three in the Europa Conference League.
If you combine points from both competitions, it was a month that saw West Ham pick up 19 points from a possible 28, a pleasing haul on the whole.
Really though, it could have been even more. The draw at Southampton saw the Hammers have a goal wrongly ruled out by VAR after referee Peter Bankes blocked Bowen as he attempted to tackle goalscorer Romain Perraud.
In defeats to Liverpool and United, West Ham could well have taken at least a point, had they taken their chances. Really though, that is being critical and the month on the whole has been a pleasing one.
West Ham started the month in the relegation zone and end it in 13th, three points clear of it and two points shy of the top half, where the Hammers will hope to be at the very least when the season pauses for the World Cup in a fortnight.
Liverpool all over again
Watching the game at Old Trafford, you could feel a serious sense of deja vu from the Hammers’ previous trip to the north west 11 days earlier.
Against Liverpool on October 19, the Hammers lost 1-0 with Darwin Nunez rising in between Thilo Kehrer and Kurt Zouma to head in a cross by Kostas Tsimikas. West Ham were spurred on after conceding and felt that could have left with at least a point after late chances.
In the defeat to United, the Hammers lost 1-0 with Rashford rising above Kehrer to head in a Christian Eriksen cross. Late chances saw West Ham close in on a late leveller, but they failed to do so.
In the Hammers’ 13 league games so far this season, they have played against five of the big six, losing by a single goal in three of them and picking up just a point from a possible 15.
Last season, West Ham picked up ten points from a possible 36 against the ‘big six’ teams. However, all of those ten were at home. This season, two of their ‘big six’ meetings have been at home, resulting in one win and one draw.
Lucas Paqueta’s absence
Brazil manager Tite was in attendance but missed out on seeing two of his Premier League stars in action.
As well as the absent United winger Antony, West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta was again missing for a fourth consecutive game with a collarbone injury, with West Ham only picking up three points from a possible nine in the league since his absence.
With Paqueta out, summer signing Flynn Downes has played as a makeshift No.10 and while he has not done too much wrong, the former Swansea City man is not an attacking midfielder, he is a sitter, proved by the fact that the chance he did create was the only one he has executed in the Premier League so far.
Compared to the win over Fulham at the start of the month, Paqueta made four chances in one game for Gianluca Scamacca, including the Italian’s goal in the 3-1 win. It is no coincidence that Scamacca’s form has dipped since Paqueta’s injury.
David de Gea’s late heroics
Many of United's players leapt on to goalkeeper David de Gea when referee Chris Kavanagh blew the final whistle, a sign of how much United needed him late on.
In the first half, he only really had to deal with one tame Said Benrahma shot and another one vs one with him, which the Spaniard rushed out well too.
After half-time however, it was a different story. From range, susbstitute Michail Antonio forced him into a diving stop having been called into action earlier again by Benrahma. In the closing stages, he leant back to palm away a Kurt Zouma header before diving to save a Declan Rice hit with one of the final kicks of the game.
Although it has often been the case in recent matches, West Ham saved their best attempts to the end and if it was not for De Gea’s excellent, the Hammers would have ended the month with at least a point.
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