Blast from the past
West Ham United have beaten Manchester United at London Stadium on one previous occasion, in front of 56,938 on 29th September 2018. Calvin Harris and Sam Smith were number one with ‘Promises’, The House With A Clock In Its Walls topped the UK box office and Rainbow presenter Geoffrey Hayes passed away the following day at the age of 76 as the Hammers emerged victorious against Jose Mourinho’s Red Devils with a 3-1 win.
Manuel Pellegrini’s Hammers came into the game on the back of an 8-0 League Cup third round thrashing of Macclesfield as the recovery from four straight league defeats at the start of the season continued; Manchester United, however, arrived in east London having been knocked out of the same competition by Championship side Derby at Old Trafford.
Just five minutes had elapsed before skipper Mark Noble sent Pablo Zabaleta in behind Luke Shaw to cross for Felipe Anderson, who stole in to provide a delightful backheeled finish and register his first goal in a West Ham shirt. The lead was doubled two minutes before half-time when a corner was not properly cleared; Andriy Yarmolenko dummied his way across the area and offered a speculative shot which took a huge deflection on its way into the net off the hapless Victor Lindelof, leaving David De Gea flat-footed.
There was a brief flurry from the visitors and Lukasz Fabianski had to be at his very best to pull off a great stop from Marouane Fellaini’s firm downward header which was creeping inside his post. The Red Devils did halve the deficit though when Luke Shaw’s corner allowed substitute Marcus Rashford to flick in at the near post with 19 minutes remaining but the revival didn’t last long. Three minutes later, Noble sent a perfectly-timed, exquisitely-weighted pass through to Marko Arnautovic (pictured above) who finished unerringly beyond De Gea to ensure West Ham’s first league victory over Manchester United by more than a single goal since 1982. The goals from this match can be seen in the video below.
The Irons finished 2018/19 in tenth place in the Premier League; Manchester United finished sixth. Arnautovic ended the season as the Hammers’ top scorer with 11 goals from 30 appearances, while Lukasz Fabianski was voted Hammer of the Year. Manchester City won a Premier League and FA Cup Double.
West Ham United: Lukasz Fabianski, Pablo Zabaleta, Fabian Balbuena, Issa Diop, Arthur Masuaku, Declan Rice, Pedro Obiang, Mark Noble, Andriy Yarmolenko (Robert Snodgrass), Marko Arnautovic (Michail Antonio), Felipe Anderson (Grady Diangana).
Manchester United: David De Gea, Ashley Young, Chris Smalling, Victor Lindelof (Marcus Rashford), Scott McTominay, Luke Shaw, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba (Fred), Marouane Fellaini, Anthony Martial (Juan Mata), Romelu Lukaku.
Club Connections
Manchester United coach Michael Carrick faces his first club. A largely impressive list of players join him in representing West Ham United and Manchester United over the years. These include:
Goalkeepers: Roy Carroll, Les Sealey.
Defenders: Rio Ferdinand, Noel Cantwell, Fred Milnes, Jonathan Spector, Patrice Evra.
Midfielders: James McCrae, Bill McCartney, Paul Ince, Ralph Milne, Luke Chadwick, Ravel Morrison.
Strikers: Billy Grassam, Javier Hernandez, Stuart Pearson, Teddy Sheringham, Ted MacDougall, David Bellion, Carlos Tevez.
In addition, Lou Macari played for Manchester United and managed West Ham while David Moyes has managed both clubs. Dave Sexton and Frank O’Farrell both played for the Hammers before going on to manage the Red Devils.
Today’s focus is on a Scottish forward who moved to West Ham United from Manchester United. Charlie Mackie was born in 1882 in Peterhead, Scotland, and began his professional career with Aberdeen in 1903 before moving to Ernest Mangnall’s Manchester United in 1904. Mangnall, incidentally, is the only man to have managed both Manchester United and Manchester City – he is also believed to have been significant as the instigator behind United’s move to Old Trafford and City’s move to Maine Road. Mackie would play for Manchester United at their Bank Street Ground though, as they did not move to Old Trafford until 1910.
Mackie, who stood at 5’11 and weighed 12st 8lbs, made his Red Devils debut in a 2-2 draw at Port Vale in the Second Division on 3rd September 1904 and scored his first goal for the club in a 2-1 home defeat to Bolton a fortnight later. After playing four games in September of 1904, Mackie had to wait four months until his next appearance, scoring in a 2-2 FA Cup Intermediate Round draw with Fulham of the Southern League First Division at Bank Street on 14th January 1905. He scored twice the following weekend, in a 4-1 home league win over Glossop, but these would be his last goals for the club. With the FA Cup replay at Fulham ending in a goalless draw, the second replay was played at a neutral venue, Villa Park, on Monday 23rd January 1905 – this would be Mackie’s final appearance for the club as Fulham ran out 1-0 winners. He had scored four goals in seven appearances for Manchester United.
An inside-right or centre-forward, Chas, as he was better known, joined West Ham United in the summer of 1905. He made his debut on the opening day of the 1905/06 Southern League First Division season in a 1-0 win over Swindon in front of 10,000 at Upton Park on 2nd September 1905. Mackie (pictured) had to wait until his fifth match to open his goalscoring account in a 2-1 home win over Plymouth on 14th October. He scored again in a 2-0 victory against Brighton at the Boleyn Ground on 11th November and also in the next match, a 2-1 defeat at Northampton on 18th November 1905 – this was his last goal and his final match for the club.
Mackie returned to Aberdeen for a second spell in December 1905, having scored three goals in ten appearances for West Ham United. He joined Lochgelly United in 1906 and spent the 1909/10 season with East Fife. His date of death is unknown.
Referee
The referee on Sunday will be 40-year-old Anthony Taylor – his most recent Irons appointment was for our 1-1 draw at Brighton last month. He also refereed our 1-0 win at Tottenham in April, our 4-2 FA Cup fourth round defeat at Wimbledon in January, our 3-2 home win over Crystal Palace in December and our 4-0 opening-day defeat at Liverpool in August 2018.
Controversy and incident are never far away when the Cheshire-based official is the referee for a West Ham United match. Taylor was in charge for our 2-1 opening-day defeat at Chelsea in August 2016, awarding the home side a penalty and later controversially failing to issue a second yellow card to Diego Costa for an awful lunge at Adrian – Costa remained on the pitch to score the 89th-minute winner. Taylor also awarded a controversial and ultimately match-winning penalty to Liverpool at Upton Park in April 2014, while there was also controversy surrounding Guy Demel’s equaliser for West Ham in that game. Taylor is also the referee who had not one, but two red cards rescinded from the same game after he had sent off Carlton Cole and Darron Gibson in the Hammers’ 2-1 home defeat to Everton in December 2012. He sent off the home side’s Kevin Mirallas against the Hammers at Goodison Park in March 2016 and awarded the Toffees a penalty which Romelu Lukaku saw saved by Adrian.
Possible line-ups
Manuel Pellegrini is without Winston Reid and Michail Antonio, as well as the suspended Arthur Masuaku. Manuel Lanzini faces a late fitness test. The Hammers have won only three of their past 20 league fixtures against established top-six sides, drawing six and losing 11.
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is without Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Eric Bailly, Luke Shaw, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial, while Daniel James will have a late fitness test. Manchester United have only failed to score in three of their past 20 trips to West Ham. The Red Devils have lost only two of their past 21 league meetings against the Hammers, winning 14 and drawing five.
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Rice, Noble; Yarmolenko, Lanzini, Anderson; Haller.
Possible Manchester United XI: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof, Young; Matic, McTominay; Lingard, Mata, James; Rashford.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!