Slaven Bilic has moved to quell fears over Andy Carroll’s fitness after the West Ham striker was taken off with a groin problem in the 3-1 win over Southampton.

Carroll continued his fine recent form with his fourth goal in as many games, but had to leave the field with a little over 10 minutes of the second half played.

He suffered a similar issue in the win against Middlesbrough a fortnight ago, but Bilic says the decision to take him off was precautionary.

He said: “He felt a little bit of a groin [problem] when we played against Middlesbrough and we didn’t want to take any risks, and today also.

“We told him at half-time to try and play 10 minutes and he said he can. We didn’t want to take any risks with him. Hopefully he is going to be okay for the next game.”

The Hammers showed great resilience as they came from 1-0 down to record a comfortable win which takes them to ninth in the Premier League table.

The result came on the back of a 4-0 thumping at the hands of Manchester City on Wednesday and United were unrecognisable from their midweek display.

Bilic was understandably pleased with the performance and praised his sides all round efforts.

He said: “We played fantastically. We were good as a team, closing them down. We pressed them when we could press them and we defended deep when we needed.

“When we had the ball we were basically everything that you can ask for as a manager. You have a game plan of course but it was the boys who executed that game plan.”

United’s sixth win in nine league matches was also notable for a goal from Pedro Obiang as he opened his account for the Hammers with a long-range effort.

It was a shock to see the midfielder try his luck from distance and Bilic says he is hoping to see more of the same from Obiang in the future.

“He should [be shooting more often]. He has that in his game. Sometimes he looks more for through balls,” Bilic said.

“He has a great shot and we are encouraging him when you are there and when they let you come to 20 yards to shoot and he did it wonderfully.

“That was a key moment in the game to go 2-1 at half-time and it changed to momentum in the game.”