The Red Devils missed the chance to close the gap to their Manchester rivals to six points, as they failed to find the back of the net.
As a result, they instead dropped to third place in the WSL table, behind Chelsea after their victory earlier in the night.
United were limited to very few chances to score, with headers from Elisabeth Terland and Lea Schuller the best of their night, as the Hammers’ defence remained rock solid.
Yet, West Ham arguably should have taken the lead in the first-half through Viviane Asseyi, as her effort only just flew wide of the post.
Story of the Match
Rita Guarino made three changes to the Hammers team that lost to Brighton in the FA Cup four weeks ago, with Ines Belloumou, Ffion Morgan and Shekiera Martinez coming in for Verena Hanshaw, Seraina Piubel and Riko Ueki.
Marc Skinner made the same number of changes to his Manchester United side that lost 2-0 to Chelsea in the League Cup just three days ago.
Hanna Lundkvist came in for Jayde Riviere at right-back, whilst Fridolina Rolfo and Schuller replaced Melvine Malard and Ellen Wangerheim in attack.
After a very scrappy first 23 minutes, it was the hosts who looked the most dangerous, with Maya Le Tissier forced into defensive action on multiple actions whilst Martinez’s shot on the edge of the box was the best sight at goal.
This nature of the cagey start may not have been a surprise however, given that West Ham’s last game was way back on February 22, whilst Manchester United hadn’t featured in the league since February 15.
In the 28th minute, Asseyi came close to breaking the deadlock after her dazzling dribbling inside the penalty area turned Le Tissier inside out, but the French winger’s shot fired just wide.
The Red Devils’ best chances of the half both fell to Terland in quick succession closing in on half time, with the first opportunity seeing her header saved by Kinga Szemik, whilst the other was hit over the bar on the half turn.
Unsatisfied with the performance, Skinner made three substitutions before the 57th minute; the first was the introduction of Gabrielle George, before Melvine Malard and Simi Awujo were brought on for more attacking spark.
The intensity going forward instantly improved for the visitors, and Schuller had her best chance on goal in her quest for her first Women’s Super League goal, but the West Ham goalkeeper got a strong glove to save the header.
West Ham wasted a glorious opportunity to take the lead against the run of play with 63 minutes gone, as Morgan went charging down the right flank and delivered a perfect cross for the head of an unmarked Asseyi, although the attacker could only harmlessly head the ball into the ground.
The Red Devils were instantly back on the front foot however, as Malard looked to change the game off the bench by capitalising on a mixup involving Estelle Cascarino and Szemik in defence, although the shot was cleared on the line by Eva Nystrom.
Despite Ellen Wangerheim and Layla Drury also thrown up top for the visitors in the closing stages, the West Ham defence continued to stand strong and limit United to very few chances at goal, which remained the case up until the final whistle following an additional four minutes of added time.
The West Ham United goalkeeper was kept particularly busy during the second half, and had to come up with some fine stops to keep the deadlock intact.
Of her five saves, she made two almost identical ones to deny headers by Tersland and Schuller from just yards out.
On another day, one of those efforts may have found the back of the net, and in such a high-stakes game with the Hammers’ WSL status on the line, it made her performance even more impressive.