West Ham United, currently struggling, pulled off a surprising 2-0 victory against Manchester United at Old Trafford, ensuring Ruben Amorim’s team will finish no higher than 13th this season.

After the match, the Red Devils find themselves 16th in the league, positioned just above their soon-to-be Europa League final rivals, Tottenham Hotspur. Despite generating numerous opportunities, they were unable to convert them into goals, while Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen scored for West Ham.

In the warm early summer sun at Old Trafford, the home team appeared more threatening as the match commenced. Bruno Fernandes had a few attempts that narrowly missed the target, and Amad Diallo challenged goalkeeper Alphonse Areola with a shot from the right that was parried away without much assurance.

West Ham seemed fairly well organised through the middle without the ball, but lacked open play creativity with it. It made sense then, that a decent chance for them came from James Ward-Prowse’s free-kick onto the head of Maximilian Kilman, missing the target.

But as United’s early intensity waned, it opened the door for West Ham to take the lead. The move developed down the Hammers’ left, with Mohammed Kudus driving into a dangerous position and firing a low ball across the face of goal that Soucek was in the right place at the right time to meet.

After West Ham had gone ahead, Ramsus Hojlund missed the target with a couple of half chances, one the result of Mason Mount’s long pass over the top that he was just unable to direct sufficiently goalward as Areola came out to meet him.

West Ham came charging out after half-time and almost landed a quick second, as Kudus escaped the attentions of Fernandes to get into the box. The attempted finish from Ward-Prowse, however, was weak and was easily collected by the grateful Altay Bayindir, standing in for usual number one goalkeeper Andre Onana.

Football can sometimes be cruel. So when United thought they had a shout for a penalty that was waved away as Amad collided with Soucek and Vladimir Coufal, and Mount saw a decent shot saved by Areola, West Ham quickly did get their second of the game.

It was scrappy and avoidable from a United perspective, but the Hammers cared little. Manuel Ugarte, withdrawn almost immediately afterwards, cheaply lost possession in his own half, giving Kudus the freedom to drive towards goal. The move actually looked to have broken down when his shot was blocked, by which time defensive numbers outweighed the attackers. But Aaron Wan-Bissaka was on hand to keep the ball alive and find Bowen at the far post for a tap-in.

United responded well, but it came too little too late and they weren’t actually able to dent the West Ham lead. Substitute Alejandro Garnacho shot into the side netting, Hojlund headed just wide of the post, before the Dane then saw a shot saved by Areola’s feet.

The French goalkeeper soon pulled off a stop from Harry Maguire, another replacement, at close-range, before somehow foiling Hojlund in the centre of the goal after a Maguire knockdown. That late pressure in search of at least something continued into the final stages, with teenager Harry Amass and Victor Lindelof each denied during a goalmouth scramble, but West Ham held firm.

Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers have all won at Old Trafford in the Premier League this season. It is no longer the fortress it used to be.

So there was always likely to be an opportunity for West Ham, who have been one of the most frequent visitors to Old Trafford in the Premier League era but have an awful record at the stadium, to join the club and reap the rewards.

Before kick-off, West Ham had not won an away league game against United since May 2007, 18 years ago, when Sir Alex Ferguson’s side had already been crowned champions and a goal from Carlos Tevez ensured the Hammers avoided relegation on the final day of the season.

While the Europa League has been a largely enjoyable watch this season, Manchester United have now equalled their longest ever win-less run in the Premier League: seven games.

They haven’t won in the league since the middle of March, when a hopeless Leicester City were the opposition. Further fixtures against Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bournemouth, Brentford and now West Ham have come since then.

The last time United went this long without a Premier League win was during the early months of the competition’s inaugural campaign in 1992/93. The difference then was that most of those games finished as draws and the run came to an immediate end when Eric Cantona arrived in November 1992, at which point the team went on an outstanding run to claim the title by May.

Ruben Amorim is clearly managing his squad so that the most important players are not running on fumes, or injured, by the time the crucial season-defining Europa League final in Bilbao comes.

So while there weren’t wholesale changes here – Bruno Fernandes, Manuel Ugarte, Leny Yoro and Rasmus Hojlund all started – there was some obvious Europa League-led thinking behind the omission of Andre Onana from the matchday squad, and Harry Maguire, Casemiro, Patrick Dorgu and Alejandro Garnacho dropping to the bench.

Kobbie Mainoo, Amad Diallo and Mason Mount have all missed big chunks of the season through injury and are in need of consistent minutes now, to build up their fitness. At least one – most probably Amad – is likely to start in Bilbao.

The worry is that Yoro’s withdrawal early in the second half was the result of an injury.

It’s small consolation, but in this most dreadful of seasons, Manchester United are still not quite as bad as Tottenham Hotspur, the team against which they will contest the Europa League final for a place in next season’s Champions League and the associated riches.

Spurs losing against Crystal Palace is what stopped United, having been leapfrogged by West Ham as a result of this game, from finishing the weekend in 17th place.

Amorim and his players will have to hope that league position and not this season’s head to head record, which has seen Spurs win all three meetings so far, will count for more in Bilbao.

This was Amad Diallo’s first Premier League start since February. When fit, he’s been one of the squad’s chief sources of goals and creativity during the Amorim era. That was again evident in this one as United made an initially bright start in the early stages of the game. It also the Ivorian who was taking the game to West Ham just before the killer second goal, while he remained involved in helping make further chances until being withdrawn in the final ten minutes.

But two things are clear. He cannot do it all by himself, and he’s not yet reached match sharpness after being cautiously reintroduced over the last few weeks.

Check out the player ratings from Man Utd 0-2 West Ham here.