Manchester United 5-0 West Ham United: Red Devils six unbeaten

Manchester United continued their unbeaten start to the Women’s Super League campaign as they breezed past West Ham United.

Centre-back Millie Turner doubled the lead, curling home a superb strike from the edge of the area after charging through the West Ham midfield.

West Ham struggled to impose themselves in the first half after Viviane Asseyi and Honoka Hayashi were forced off with injuries and Nikita Parris dealt further damage when she tucked an Ella Toone through-ball past Mackenzie Arnold to make it 3-0.

The Irons improved somewhat after the break and enjoyed a period of momentum but Emma Harries, Amber Tysiak and Riko Ueki all had efforts saved.

And their pressure was ultimately fruitless because Lucia Garcia fired home from close range and Melvine Malard bundled home from a corner to seal a comfortable win for the Red Devils.

United boss Marc Skinner praised his side for their attacking quality, saying: “What pleased me most was the fluidity. When you play against us we can attack in so many different ways.

“I love that about us, I love the flair – I want us to excite our fans. I liked our attitude and the way we pressed in the first half.”

However, Skinner was not happy with the way his side started the second half, adding: “It’s not a bad attitude, it’s just that we took our foot off the gas a little bit and you let the other team in. The league is too good to do that now.”

Manchester United remain undefeated after six league games, while West Ham have collected four points from the same number of matches.

Dominant first half seals comfortable Red Devils win

In what has been a season of mixed results this was a particularly positive performance for Manchester United.

The home side managed 18 shots, nine of which hit the target.

And they converted their dominance into goals – something they failed to do when they required a stoppage-time equaliser to scrape a draw with Brighton last weekend.

Relentless pressing in the final third from the front three of Galton, Parris and Geyse stopped the visitors building from the back and capitalised on any defensive errors.

Parris, who was rewarded with a start after scoring a hat-trick in the midweek League Cup victory over Everton, regularly threatened down the right-hand side.

There was little work for the Red Devils defence, so their full-backs took a more aggressive role, with Hannah Blundell and Jayde Riviere – before she was taken off with an injury – making overlapping runs to carve openings on the wings.

West Ham struggled to find a way out of their own half for much of the game but home keeper Mary Earps remained alert, reacting quickly to deny Riko Ueki an early goal and managing their second-half efforts well.

The hosts went more than 30 minutes in the second half without managing a shot, but the two late goals were an accurate reflection of United’s grip on the game.

United now have three wins and three draws from their opening six WSL games going into next weekend’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford.

West Ham boss Rehanne Skinner was disappointed her side did play at their best.

“It is frustrating because we know what our players are capable of,” she said. “We see it in training day in and day out, and you want them to step up and deliver at the weekend.

“In this league we have to be competitive every week and today we gave too much time and space. You can’t give Man United that much time and space without being punished for it.”