West Ham United Women suffered a second successive Women’s Super League defeat as Manchester United secured a 2-1 victory at the Progress With Unity Stadium.
Elisabeth Terland opened the scoring after nine minutes before Andrea Medina doubled Manchester United’s advantage in the second half.
Viviane Asseyi converted a stoppage-time penalty, but Rita Guarino’s side ran out of time to find an equaliser.
FotMob’s match data shows United produced 15 shots to West Ham’s nine and led the expected-goals battle 1.67 to 1.13.
Here are our West Ham Women player ratings.
Constance Picaud-Inconnu – 7
Could do little about either goal and helped prevent Manchester United from putting the contest beyond West Ham earlier.
Another respectable individual performance despite conceding twice.
Nadine Riesen – 6.5
Worked hard on the right side of the defence and tried to provide an outlet when West Ham pushed forward.
Booked in the second half but remained competitive.
Eva Nyström – 6.5
Recalled to the starting XI in place of Laia Codina.
Generally dealt with plenty of pressure inside the West Ham penalty area and produced a solid return to the side, although United still created too much centrally.
Estelle Cascarino – 5.5
A difficult afternoon against a United attack that repeatedly reached dangerous areas.
West Ham conceded 37 touches inside their penalty area according to the Opta-powered match statistics.
Inès Belloumou – 6.5
One of the steadier members of the back four.
Had plenty of defensive work to complete as United looked to attack from wide areas and competed well for long periods.
Seraina Piubel – 6
Unable to impose herself consistently enough in advanced areas.
Worked without the ball but West Ham needed more attacking influence before she was replaced by Ebony Salmon after 73 minutes.
Katie Zelem – 6.5
A significant afternoon for the captain on her return to her former club.
Tried to give West Ham control in midfield and remained involved as Guarino’s side searched for a route back into the game.
Zelem’s importance has grown since she was named West Ham captain before the season.
Saki Kumagai – 5.5
Not her strongest West Ham performance.
Manchester United found too much space between the midfield and defensive lines, making it difficult for Kumagai to dictate the contest as she has in better performances this season.
Viviane Asseyi – 8
West Ham’s standout player.
Continued trying to make things happen even when United appeared to have secured the points.
Kept her composure from the penalty spot in stoppage time to score West Ham’s only goal and give Guarino’s side a late chance of rescuing a draw.
Asseyi was also one of the decisive players when West Ham secured their first league victory against London City, with our player ratings from that 2-1 win highlighting her influence.
Oona Siren – 6.5
Given the difficult task of coming into the side with Riko Ueki unavailable.
Worked hard alongside Gago and offered useful movement, but West Ham struggled to provide their forwards with enough sustained service.
Replaced by Leila Wandeler after 63 minutes.
Kelly Gago – 5.5
A frustrating afternoon.
Gago was unable to have the attacking impact West Ham needed as Manchester United restricted the service into the front line.
The contrast with her goal-scoring performance against London City was noticeable.
Substitutes
Leila Wandeler – 5.5
Replaced Siren after 63 minutes but struggled to significantly alter the flow of the game.
Ebony Salmon – N/A
Introduced for Piubel after 73 minutes but was substituted again nine minutes later.
There has been no official explanation for the change at the time of writing, so it would be premature to assume an injury.
Ylinn Tennebø – N/A
Replaced Salmon after 82 minutes.
Not enough time for a fair rating.
Asseyi offers encouragement despite another defeat
West Ham showed some fight by continuing to push after Medina made it 2-0.
The problem was that the response arrived too late.
Manchester United had more shots, more expected goals and almost twice as many touches in the opposition penalty area.
Asseyi’s display was the major positive.
West Ham now have three points from four WSL matches and must quickly turn their attention to Wednesday’s Subway Players Cup meeting with Southampton.
Supporters can revisit all the build-up and broadcast details from Sunday’s fixture in our Manchester United Women vs West Ham Women match guide.
