Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Who needs Carlos Tevez? It's as though the sight of their returning hero yesterday was all the Hammers needed to rekindle some of that Argentine fire from last season when they did the double over United. The two goals in the last 13 minutes with which they won the match - both headers from set-pieces by Anton Ferdinand and Matthew Upson - may not have been in the Cristiano Ronaldo class, but they were too good for a United side who were well below their best and without Wayne Rooney, not that that should be seen as an excuse.

For a long while it looked as if the West Ham fans had made a mistake by not affording Ronaldo a similarly warm reception to Tevez, who was greeted with a prolonged ovation. It had the effect of turning the Argentine terror into a bit of a pussycat for the afternoon. Ronaldo, on the other hand, was booed every time he touched the ball and one of those first few touches resulted in him heading United ahead. Perhaps the West Ham fans knew best because with United 1-0 up, Ronaldo missed a penalty midway through the second half which would almost certainly have sealed the game.

Defeat would have been harsh on West Ham, who could themselves have put the game out of United's reach in the first half. United may have been without Rooney and Michael Carrick because of stomach upsets, and even Sir Alex Ferguson had to watch the game from the stands as a result of his "sending off" at Bolton last month, but their absenteeism was nothing like as damaging as West Ham's has been this season.

On his way to the press conference, Alan Curbishley said he had had to pass "a wall and a half" of photographs of absent players and he wasn't talking about the likes of Hurst, Peters and Moore. "It's a fantastic result," he said. "I had 16 players today, I've now got 14, I think, and every time someone pops up and does a job." Nolberto Solano and Scott Parker both had to come off and are struggling to be fit to play Arsenal on Tuesday.

West Ham's lack of creativity is seen by some as the reason for their poor home form - away from home the responsibility is more on the opposition to do the unlocking - but there was nothing wrong with their invention yesterday. Their finishing, maybe. If there was any justice in the Premier League they would have had a couple of goals as well as a penalty in the first half. Starting so well without reward may have cost them because they were certainly caught cold on the counter by United's first real attack after 13 minutes.

By then Hayden Mullins had already hit the crossbar, finishing perhaps a little casually after some slick build-up play by Lucas Neill and Carlton Cole. Mark Noble might have done better with the rebound, too. As quiet as he was, Tevez could still have instigated a United victory. He quickly put three players out of the game before releasing the ball to Louis Saha, who in turn fed Ryan Giggs. With Lucas AWOL at right-back the Welshman had ample time in which to measure his cross for Ronaldo to easily head home his 13th league goal and 18th in all.

Instead of galvanising the champions, the goal just seemed to instill greater lethargy in them. Rio Ferdinand was fortunate not to concede a penalty for a needless push and a trip from behind on Solano near the byline, but the little Peruvian almost gained compensation with a dipping shot from outside the box which Tomasz Kuszczak, standing in for the injured Edwin van der Sar, just managed to tip over the crossbar.

There were few glimpses of United's class, even if Ronaldo did once audaciously pass the ball with his shoulder, and it looked as if Jonathan Spector had wrecked any chances of a comeback when he needlessly handled a cross. Perhaps someone whispered in Ronaldo's ear that Robert Green hadn't conceded a goal in four penalty attempts this season because, as Curbishley said, he seemed to hit the ball a lot harder than usual and the result was he pulled it wide.

With that, Dean Ashton joined the fray and suddenly there was a real menace about West Ham at set-pieces. Ferdinand and Upson climbed comfortably higher than anyone to head their goals, both from Noble deliveries in every way, the first from a corner the second from a free-kick. "I couldn't see it happening, I must say," Ferguson said, "but if you're losing goals from set-pieces you know you're not at your best."