Manuel Pellegrini expressed his delight at West Ham United’s 2-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday, hailing it a “special game”.

Andriy Yarmolenko scored his second of the season just before the break and a stunning free-kick from Aaron Cresswell wrapped things up later in the second half.

The win briefly moved the Hammers up to fourth, although Arsenal’s win over Aston Villa later in the day knocked them back down a place, but it also extends the side’s unbeaten run to six games and sees them keep a fourth straight clean sheet.

Speaking to the club website, Pellegrini said: “I’m very pleased. Playing Manchester United at home is a special game for our fans and I think they enjoyed the game from the beginning.

“Manchester United didn’t create too many chances, we tried to play high [up the pitch], to have good recovery [of possession] and you must be happy when you score two goals and don’t concede.

“I said at half-time if we continued to defend as we did in the first half, not just in our box, but force them to make mistakes immediately when they came into our half, then we are not going to concede too many opportunities.”

While the positive start to the season has given many a reason to be excited, the boss has urged the side to remain focussed so that they do not let this form slip ahead of a tough run of games.

He said: “You can see and hear that all the fans are happy and the team is playing well so all of us together must try to add another three points in the next game.

“When you talk about future targets you must demonstrate in every game on the pitch a winning mentality. For the moment we are in a good position in the table, but we must continue doing it in every game to try and keep the position.”