One of the most damning indictments of David Moyes's tenure at Manchester United so far has been that opposition's winless streaks at Old Trafford have been brought to an end this season.
West Bromwich Albion's 2-1 victory terminated a run without a win since 1978, while Everton recently tasted success for the first time since 1992.
Yesterday, the longest sequence to date was ceased when Newcastle United returned to Tyneside having recorded their maiden triumph in 41 years. That is not to say that this didn't happen during Sir Alex Ferguson's time at the helm.
West Ham United had not enjoyed their trips to the red of half Manchester since 1986 when a brace of goals from Frank McAvennie helped the East Londoners to a 3-2 win.
So, when they made the journey on this day in 2001, not too much was expected of the Hammers, despite the fact that they had won there in the FA Cup during the previous season. In terms of league encounters, they had not left with all three points in 15 years.
Hosting United, though, had lost their previous two Premier League fixtures at the hands of Arsenal and Chelsea and they started sluggishly against Glenn Roeder's side.
Jermain Defoe, Paolo Di Canio, Joe Cole and Trevor Sinclair caused problems to the home side from the outset and the latter of that quartet went close in the opening exchanges with an acrobatic effort. Meanwhile, up the other end, Paul Scholes was twice denied by David James in the away goal.
David Beckham, who started the contest on the bench, was introduced into the action in the 59th minute and he instantly crossed for Scholes, but the midfielder could only guide his header wide of the target.
It was a miss that would be punished just five minutes later when Di Canio picked out Defoe at the back post. He rose, unchallenged to nod the ball beyond the reach of Fabien Barthez.
Having fallen behind, United laid siege to the West Ham goal, peppering it with shots. James and his rearguard held firm, though, to condemn Ferguson's team to their third successive domestic defeat.
MAN UNITED: Barthez; Gary Neville, O'Shea, Silvestre, Phil Neville; Chadwick (Beckham), Butt (Cole), Keane, Scholes; Yorke (Fortune), Solskjaer
WEST HAM: James; Repka, Dailly, Schemmel, Winterburn; Sinclair, Carrick, Hutchison, Cole; Di Canio, Defoe (Camara)
