West Ham United got back to winning ways against battered and bruised Premier League basement boys Sheffield United at London Stadium.

Jarrod Bowen and Tomáš Souček put the Blades to the sword before the interval and, although there was to be no second-half salvo, the Hammers rarely looked like being hit on the rebound by the Yorkshiremen, who had conceded eight against Newcastle United six days earlier.

Following Wednesday’s narrow 1-0 Carabao Cup third round victory at League One Lincoln City, West Ham made another 10 changes for this return to the bread and butter of the top flight and, once again, midweek matchwinner Souček was fittingly the only Hammer to retain a starting jersey.

Back-to-back 3-1 defeats at the hands of Manchester City and then Liverpool had left David Moyes men in seventh spot but with just five minutes on the clock they should have quickly got themselves back on the winning trail but the retained Czech international wastefully spooned over from 12 yards.

Souček also headed wide before Lucas Paquetá recycled the ball on the byeline ahead of forcing Wes Fotheringham to parry his low angled effort as West Ham eagerly looked for the opener.

It has certainly been a blunt return to the top flight for the newly-promoted Blades, who arrived in the capital still smarting from last Sunday’s record 8-0 league defeat - a result that left them with just one point from their opening half-dozen matches while they had also been immediately dumped out of the Carabao Cup, coincidentally by Lincoln. 

Somewhat surprisingly remaining in the Bramall Lane hot-seat despite that Magpies mauling, Paul Heckingbottom made just one change in his attempt to steady the Sheffield ship with Oliver McBurnie returning from suspension to replace substitute Oliver Norwood.

Having kept it goalless for a dozen minutes, the visitors saw Cameron Archer and Gustavo Hamer denied in quick succession by Nayef Aguerd and Edson Álvarez but it was still the Hammers who looked most threatening with Fotheringham brilliantly beating out Bowen’s close-range header before Luke Thomas nodded Paquetá’s follow-up off the line.

James Ward-Prowse also saw his 20-yard free-kick fielded by the Sheffield United keeper, but on 24 minutes Foderingham was given no chance when Álvarez played in the overlapping Vladimír Coufal down the right flank and the Czech international full-back duly invited the onrushing Bowen to sweep a low 12-yarder into the bottom left-hand corner for his fifth goal of the season.

Michail Antonio might well have doubled West Ham’s advantage soon after and, after Thomas survived a Video Assistant Review for a handball inside the six-yard box, Paquetá’s curling 20-yarder was then gathered from underneath his right-hand angle by Foderingham.

Antonio also rocked the stanchion with another sizzler and, after James McAtee had collected a yellow card for scything him down, Souček arrived in the Blades area, where he sent a glancing header the wrong side of the left-hand upright.

But on 37 minutes, the 62-times capped Czech midfielder finally got the goal that he had been threatening throughout, when Emerson intercepted Hamer’s sloppy pass on the halfway line and played the ball forward to Antonio, who slipped in Souček to expertly ride Jack Robinson’s attempted tackle and prod home his third goal of the campaign from six yards.

The returning McBurnie should have immediately reduced the deficit but he wastefully drilled across the face of goal leaving West Ham looking fine value for their two-goal interval lead.

Early in the second half the airborne Anel Ahmedhodžić was denied by an acrobatic Alphonse Areola parry ahead of Blades’ skipper John Egan hobbling away to be replaced by Chris Basham.

At the other end, Bowen and Antonio looked set to carve out a third goal but a cocktail of diligent goalkeeping and Claret and Blue hesitancy thwarted the Hammers much to the frustration of the home supporters, who also looked skywards as Aguerd nodded another pin-point Ward-Prowse corner wide.

Álvarez had been booked for lunging into the escaping Jayden Bogle just before the break and he was then fortunate to escape a second yellow card for another slide into the bulldozed Blade and that was the cautious cue for Moyes to replace the Mexican with Saïd Benrahma, while Mohammed Kudus also came on for Antonio.

As the clock ticked down, Heckingbottom desperately went for the treble chance introducing Auston Trusty, Rhian Brewster and Anis Ben Slimane as Hamer, Archer and Bogle all stood down for the closing stages.

By now, though, the damage had already been done and nothing was going to stop the Blades from ending the afternoon still propping up the table, while the Hammers remain in seventh ahead of turning their attention to their UEFA Europa League trip to SC Freiburg on Thursday (October 5, 5.45pm).

WEST HAM UNITED: Areola, Coufal, Emerson, Zouma, Aguerd, Souček, Ward-Prowse, Álvarez (Benrahma 72), Paquetá (Mavropanos 90+3), Bowen (Fornals 90+3), Antonio (Kudus 72). Unused subs: Fabiański, Cornet, Ings, Ogbonna, Kehrer.

SHEFFIELD UNITED: Foderingham, Egan (Basham 55), Ahmedhodžić, Robinson, Souza, Bogle (Trusty 79), Thomas, McAtee (T Davies 70), Hamer (Slimane 79), Archer (Brewster, 79), McBurnie. Unused subs: A Davies, Traoré, Norwood, Larouci.

Booked: McAtee (32), Álvarez (40).

Referee: Graham Scott.