Wayne Rooney warns Man United to expect ‘tough’ West Ham trip

Wayne Rooney has warned Manchester United to expect a stern test when they travel to West Ham United on Wednesday looking to take another step closer to the title.

Rooney put in a man-of-the-match performance in central midfield on Sunday as United ran out 2-0 winners at Stoke City to tighten their grip on a 20th top-flight crown.

But the England international is taking nothing for granted ahead of Wednesday’s clash at Upton Park, where the Hammers have only been beaten four times in the Premier League this term.

“It’s a tough game on Wednesday, West Ham away, and it’s a massive game now,” Rooney told MUTV. “We’ll go there and try and get the three points. Hopefully we can do that and then move on to the next one.

“We’re in a great position and I’m sure every United fan and player would have taken this position before the season started. We just have to make sure we move on and push ourselves over that line.”

The Red Devils bounced back from the disappointment of losing the Manchester derby on Monday with a relatively comfortable win at the Britannia Stadium.

And Rooney admitted the 2-1 defeat by City was painful but was thrilled with United’s response.

He added: “It [the derby] was horrible really. No matter how many points clear we were, it was a derby game we wanted to win and unfortunately we didn’t do that, so the next best thing to do was show we could respond to that, come to Stoke and get three points.”