Topics: Erik ten Hag, Manchester United, West Ham, English Premier League
Goals from Bowen and Kudus condemned the Red Devils to their eighth Premier League defeat of the season and 13th across all competitions.

Manchester United traveled to West Ham for Saturday's early kick-off in Matchweek 18 of the Premier League.

Erik ten Hag's men entered this tie on the back of last weekend's goalless draw away to title challengers Liverpool, a result that was seen as mostly favorable towards the Red Devils.

However, this fixture went horribly for the visitors. Not only did Manchester United fail to win for the fourth game in a row, Bruno Fernandes and Co. also lost this game, suffering a 2-0 defeat at the London Stadium.

Second-half goals from Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus condemned the Premier League giants to their eighth top-flight defeat of the season. Furthermore, Ten Hag's side reached another set of unwanted milestones in what has been a awful campaign so far.

First of all, while this was Manchester United's eighth defeat in the Premier League, the Red Devils have lost a whopping 13 games so far this season across all competitions. This means half of their matches in 2023-24 have ended in defeats, having played 26 matches in total.

To put this into perspective, the last time the 20-time English champions lost 13 games or more before Christmas was nearly a century ago, dating back to 1930.

A huge reason behind this is their defensive woes, which have partly been down to injuries. Ten Hag's side have already conceded an astonishing 41 goals this campaign. To put this into perspective as well, this is already more goals than Jose Mourinho's Manchester United side conceded in the entirety of his second season at Old Trafford.

Furthermore, their attack has been poor as well. Despite boasting the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, and highly-rated young striker Rasmus Højlund, the Red Devils went a fourth consecutive game without scoring, which last happened 31 years ago.

Things will not get easier for Manchester United. The Premier League heavyweights, who embarrassingly crashed out of the UEFA Champions League in the group stage, return to action this midweek on Boxing Day. Unfortunately, they will host Unai Emery's high-flying Aston Villa who currently sit in the top three.