DERBY, England – West Ham set up a fifth-round match at Manchester United in the FA Cup by beating third-tier Derby 2-0.
Jarrod Bowen scored one goal and set up the other for Michail Antonio in a comfortable win for the English Premier League team at Pride Park.
West Ham avoided becoming the 12th top-flight club to exit the competition before the last 16.
Man United and West Ham met at Old Trafford in the fifth round two years ago, with United advancing with a 1-0 win.
Bowen said he found out West Ham’s next opponent was United only after he was substituted midway through the second half.
“I asked Dec (teammate Declan Rice) and he said, `We´ve got United away,'” Bowen said.
“It´s never easy but if we want to be successful in this competition, we have to beat top teams. It will be a tough game – they are a top, top team – but we´ve been there plenty of times before.”
West Ham has won three of its last four games – two of those victories coming in the FA Cup – to ease some of the pressure on manager David Moyes.
Bowen, who scored twice in a league win over Everton in West Ham´s last match, put the visitors ahead with a close-range volley after the ball was helped on by Tomas Soucek.
Antonio had the simple task of heading home into an unguarded net in the 50th minute after Bowen´s cross from the right deflected into the striker´s path.