Paul MacInnes was at the London Stadium tonight. Here’s his verdict. Thanks for reading this MBM.

Nuno Espírito Santo speaks to TNT Sports. “We competed really well … we played a good game against a good team … we started really well in the second half … we defended properly until the last moment … a tough team to stop … the boys did really well … we are disappointed … today we showed we are here to fight … believe … work hard … a tough moment to take … but let’s keep it going … we showed today this is the way we should compete every match … we have been trying to fix our problems … keep a clean sheet … that’s what we need for our future … of course we can do more … we should have killed the game … but it was not to be and we have to keep on going.”

Michael Carrick, formerly of West Ham, 1997-2004, talks to TNT. “We were OK … a bit disappointed … not at our best … a little bit frustrated … it’s a tough place to come … they made it difficult … we didn’t have that sharpness … credit to the boys, that spirit again … we’ll take the point and move on … a fantastic finish … we threw everything at it … another big goal for [Šeško] … we found a way to take a point … we’ll move on and take some positives from it … now we’re kind of done with them, I’d love [West Ham] to stay up, they’re a big part of my life … growing up, I have great memories here.”

Manchester United’s point-saving hero Benjamin Šeško speaks to TNT Sports. “I’m happy with my finish but not so happy with the draw … we deserved the win … days come when you are a bit unlucky … we were fighting and got a draw which is really important … we are a great team together … we are always fighting … it was a difficult game for us … they were dangerous on counter-attacks … when difficult moments come, we stand together … we just have to keep going … be focused … on point … and when the chances come, finish them.”

Post-match postbag. “Who do I complain to? There I was, not particularly exercised one way or the other, but happy to believe that Michael Carrick had transformed Man United into an unstoppable dynamic force of pure footballing prowess, while dear old Nuno had failed to stop West Ham sliding into utter rubbish and the relegation zone. And yet here we are” – Charles Antaki

“I switched over from Spurs v Newcastle when that match was over. After just a few minutes I could see the patterns of how the Hammers defence adjusted as Manchester United tried different angles of attack, with Soucek and Potts disrupting build-up and plugging holes. I can’t tell you anyone’s role in the Tottenham defence, beyond their squad numbers. Good organisation isn’t exciting, but it’s crucial in a relegation fight” – Kári Tulinius

So what has that done to the Premier League table? West Ham nudge a little closer to Nottingham Forest – and Tottenham Hotspur – at the bottom. Manchester United meanwhile spurn the chance to move into third place at Aston Villa’s expense, but they’re a little step closer to their end-of-season goal after snatching a share of the spoils. The run-in promises to be a world of wonder at both ends of the table!

Neither set of players look particularly happy right now. But when it all comes down, they’ll both take something positive from the game. West Ham earn a point from a difficult fixture, and more importantly that’s another marvellously staunch performance from a team that looked relegation-bound not so long ago. There’s still a long battle ahead, but this should give them succour. Manchester United meanwhile snatch a point they just about deserved on balance, even if they didn’t play particularly well by their own recent Carrickian standards. That might prove crucial in the race for the Champions League. The only real loser tonight is poor Frank Ilett’s neck, doomed to carry the weight of that 500-day helmet o’hair for a while longer. Our commiserations, best wishes, thoughts, prayers, etc.

90 min +7: Manchester United, sniffing blood in the Fergie-era style, search for a winner. Diallo drives down the right. His low cross is intercepted by Magassa, who clears just in time with white shirts lurking. What a finish that was by Sesko. What a finish to the game!

90 min +5: Scarles powers down the left and releases Wilson down the middle with a long pass. Wilson is one on one with Lammens … who blocks the shot! But the flag goes up for offside anyway. And then …

90 min +4: Manchester United are this close to equalising! Bruno Fernandes teases a cross in from the right. Zirkzee, level with the right-hand post and 12 yards out, steers a clever header across Hermansen and surely into the bottom left … but the ball bounces inches wide! Thousands of sharp intakes of breath tinkle around the stadium.

90 min +3: … nowt happens. The tension at the London Stadium crackles!

90 min +2: Nothing comes of the corner. Manchester United hit it long. West Ham intercept again, and this time it’s Magassa piling upfield, down the inside-left channel. He passes infield for Traore, who enters the box … only to be denied by that man Yoro, who once again blocks out for a corner. From which …

90 min +1: Wilson snaffles a loose ball with Manchester United on attack, and bombs down the right. He steams all the way into the Manchester United box. He’s only got Magassa in the middle, so goes on his own instead. Yoro blocks his shot out for a corner.

90 min: There will be seven additional minutes.

89 min: Another West Ham double change, as Bowen and Summerville make way for Walker-Peters and the new signing from Fulham, Adama Traore.

88 min: Mbeumo cuts in from the left and curls towards the top left. Soucek deflects the shot out for a corner. That looked vital, because it wasn’t clear that Hermansen was getting to the initial effort. Nothing comes of the corner.

87 min: Diallo sells Magassa a dummy down the left to buy himself time to cross … then blooters a dreadful cross over everyone’s head.

85 min: Lammens plays out from the back, putting Martinez in trouble with a hospital pass. Bowen slides in, sniffing an opportunity, but Martinez drops a shoulder to swivel away from danger with nanoseconds to spare. Lammens owes Martinez a large gourd of mate.

84 min: Bruno Fernandes plays a cute line-breaking pass down the middle towards Sesko … who takes a heavy touch, allowing Mateus Fernandes to nip in and start a counter. West Ham’s Fernandes draws a foul from Mainoo, and the clock ticks on in West Ham’s favour.

82 min: Zirkzee comes on for Dalot, Michael Carrick going for broke in attack. Casemiro battles down the inside-left channel, but eventually runs the ball out of play under pressure from Magassa.

81 min: Scarles crosses from the left. Wan-Bissake from the right. Summerville from the left. Manchester United can’t get out. But they’re helped when the whistle goes, Soucek high-kicking in the environs of Shaw’s head.

80 min: West Ham make a double change. Potts and Diouf are replaced by Scarles and Magassa.

79 min: Dalot crosses from the right. Casemiro wins a header at the far stick, but can’t direct the ball goalwards. And turns out he was offside anyway.

77 min: Shaw crosses from the left. He loops a cutback to Mbeumo, who flaps a weak header wide right. West Ham keeping the visitors at arm’s length. For now. A reminder that West Ham haven’t kept a clean sheet at home all season.

76 min: Sesko spins on the right-hand edge of the West Ham D and fizzes a low shot straight at Hermansen. Comfortable for the keeper, who hasn’t had too much to do in this second half. He didn’t have a great deal to do in the first.

75 min: Bowen dribbles hard down the right and reaches the byline, but his attempted cross is blocked well by Martinez, who saunters off with the ball. The tension at the London Stadium is palpable.

74 min: Casemiro tries to feed a cross in from the right, but Disasi hooks clear. West Ham continue to hold that shape.

72 min: Sesko crosses from the left. The ball pings off Disasi, then back off Sesko, and out for a goal kick. It’s not happening for Manchester United up front. Not right now. But there’s time. On the touchline, Michael Carrick exudes calm. No panic. Not convinced a certain Mr Ilett will be feeling quite as zen.

71 min: Diallo powers in from the right and goes over upon reaching the box. Diouf is on his shoulder, but there was little to no contact, and the referee isn’t interested in awarding the penalty Diallo wants.

70 min: Mateus Fernandes is booked for the content of a chat with the referee. There was absolutely nothing going on, so what pointless nonsense.

69 min: … and so West Ham respond by swapping Castellanos for Wilson.

68 min: Manchester United make a double change, replacing Maguire and Cunha with Yoro and Sesko …

67 min: Both teams suddenly look a little skittish, with so much at stake at both ends of the Premier League table.

65 min: Casemiro’s kneecap was offside. Nowt else. West Ham go up the other end, Bowen winning a corner, then sending it into the mixer. Mbeumo wallops clear. This game is on a knife-edge.

64 min: Casemiro, on the left-hand edge of the West Ham D, was an inch or two ahead of Wan-Bissaka. Not much in that, and it was a fine cross met by a wonderful measured header, but offside is offside.

63 min: Mainoo, quarterbacking from deep on the right, curls powerfully across for Casemiro, who meets the ball rushing in from the left. He steers a glorious header across Hermansen and into the right-hand side of the net. But Casemiro doesn’t really celebrate, and VAR is going to check.

62 min: Bruno Fernandes can’t beat the first man with his free kick. That’s uncharacteristically awful. West Ham half clear. But then Manchester United come again …

61 min: Bowen skittles Mainoo 35 yards from the West Ham goal. Everyone lines up on the edge of the box, awaiting Bruno Fernandes’ delivery. Maguire wins a header, but not particularly convincingly and the hosts clear. But Maguire comes again down the right, where Castellanos clips the makeshift winger. Another free kick coming up.

59 min: Potts accidentally catches Bruno Fernandes on the back of the ear as the pair contest a high ball. Time for Manchester United to catch their collective breath as their captain slowly picks himself back up. They need a quick reboot.

58 min: Mateus Fernandes slaps a dismal flat free kick into the first man Diallo. Manchester United breathe again. What a waste from a West Ham point of view.

57 min: Summerville turns on the jets on the other flank, and draws a clumsy lunge from Dalot, who quite rightly goes into the book. A free kick just to the left of the Manchester United box. West Ham fill the area.

56 min: Wan-Bissaka and Bowen take turns to scoot down the right flank. Bruno Fernandes is left in the dust by the former; Shaw only just keeps up with the latter. West Ham are getting plenty of joy down this side of the park.

54 min: Mainoo’s persistence on the edge of the West Ham box causes panic in the host defence. The ball’s shifted right to Bruno Fernandes, whose cross is only half cleared. Dalot shoots. Blocked. Manchester United are beginning to formulate a response to going behind.

53 min: Diouf lifts a pass down the left for Summerville to chase. For a second, it looks like Summerville is away from Dalot, but the Manchester United full-back fights back. He blocks the route to goal, so Summerville can’t shoot. Summerville checks back, at which point the flag pops up. That’s the correct decision … but there wasn’t too much in it. Manchester United playing a dangerous game there.

51 min: That was a lovely goal from West Ham’s perspective. Not so much from Manchester United’s. None of Shaw, Martinez or Mainoo covered themselves in glory.

48 min: Castellanos nearly steals the ball off a snoozing Maguire’s toe … but the big defender rouses himself just in time to spin around, guard it, and roll it back for Lammens to clear. Castellanos hasn’t had many touches this evening, but he has bothered Maguire on a couple of occasions.

47 min: … and now Mainoo advances down the left, but his cross is easily plucked from the sky by Hermansen, who was under no pressure whatsoever. No Manchester United player anywhere near him. But the visitors have started the second period with renewed vigour.

46 min: Manchester United are immediately on the front foot, and Diallo has the opportunity to release Dalot into acres down the right … only to fail to spot the pass.

West Ham get the second half started. No changes.

Half-time entertainment. Courtesy of hirsute Manchester United fan Frank Ilett Uncle Peter’s Band.

45 min 01 sec: The whistle goes.

45 min: There is going to be no additional time. Even the officials are fed up.

44 min: Bruno Fernandes loops one in from the left. Disasi deflects into the arms of Hermansen.

43 min: “This is a poor game,” writes Tim Stappard, the entirety of the first email for a good while. To be fair, there’s been very little else to say.

42 min: The fans get a bit louder with some action at both ends. First up Maguire cynically checks Castellanos on the edge of the Manchester United box, as the striker tries to intercept a poor Dalot backpass. He was never getting to the ball, but Maguire was taking a chance there. The referee waves play on, and on the counter, Diallo slashes a speculative shot into the side netting from the left.

40 min: Mainoo tries to get something going with a sashay down the middle, but the moment he gets near the West Ham D, Potts arrives to block and dispossess. The crowd, so boisterous at kick-off, are pretty quiet right now.

38 min: Cunha prepares to take a whack from the edge of the West Ham box. Potts closes him down. The ball ends up bouncing apologetically out of play for a goal kick.

36 min: After that brief burst of West Ham action, Manchester United settle things down again with a period of sterile domination.

34 min: Summerville gives Diouf a ball to chase at high speed down the left … and Maguire wins the footrace to usher the West Ham man and ball out for a goal kick. Maguire is OK, then, by the looks of it.

32 min: Dalot thinks the ball’s going out of play on the West Ham left flank. It’s not, though. Summerville traps it on the line, spins, and makes off with it. Dalot left floundering. Maguire comes across to block and save his team-mate’s blushes … but at what cost? He’s holding the back of his leg as the match goes on. Let’s see whether that’s serious or not.

30 min: Manchester United continue to dominate in terms of possession: it’s 61-39 in their favour. But the hosts are holding their defensive shape. A bit of a stalemate right now.

28 min: Casemiro sends it a cross, or is it a curling shot, in from the left. Either way, it takes a deflection and it’s easy pickings for Hermansen. This game could do with a goal.

26 min: Cunha cuts across Mateus Fernandes and throws an arm into his chest. Fernandes responds by pulling his shirt. West Ham get the decision; Fernandes’s namesake Bruno isn’t happy, and tells it as he sees it. The referee tells him to pipe down.

24 min: Dalot crosses from the right. Dangerously so. Wan-Bissaka is on point to volley clear, with a couple of snowflake shirts drifting around. Manchester United are beginning to get on top here.

22 min: Shaw advances down the left and cuts a ball back to … nobody in particular. But Mavropanos isn’t taking any chances, and pokes it out for a corner. And from the set piece, hit flat and hard into the box from the left by Bruno Fernandes, Shaw whips a first-time shot towards the bottom right. The keeper’s beaten, but Wan-Bissaka is on the line to skelp clear. Another fine Manchester United corner routine, following the one that Fernandes, Mainoo and Mbeumo combined for at Old Trafford against Spurs last weekend!

20 min: Dalot has the chance to release Diallo into the West Ham box down the right, but overcooks the pass. Diallo can’t keep the ball from going out for a goal kick. Some nice link-up play by Cunha earlier in the move, though.

18 min: Now it’s Manchester United’s turn to concede a needless set piece, Shaw barrelling back to skittle Bowen, going nowhere near the right-hand corner flag. Everyone loads the box ahead of the action … but Bowen hoicks an uncharacteristically dreadful free kick miles over everyone’s head and out for a goal kick.

17 min: Mainoo’s sheer presence down the inside-right channel causes West Ham angst. Summerville comes back and punts the ball out for a corner. There was a hint of panic in that, perhaps unnecessarily so. The resulting set piece is hit long from the right, and Maguire heads harmlessly over.

15 min: It’s pretty much 50-50 in terms of possession so far. Manchester United with the early advantage, but West Ham have got back into it during the last five minutes or so.

13 min: Summerville picks up possession on the left, and glides slowly infield. Then he suddenly picks up speed, finds a pocket of space, and curls towards the top right. He doesn’t quite send his shot towards the corner, but Lammens is still forced to stretch fully and palm around the post. A save he should have made, but one that looked real good for the cameras. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.

11 min: The current xG is 0.03 to 0, which is about right.

10 min: Martinez scoops a long pass down the inside-left channel to release Bruno Fernandes. He’s one on one with the keeper, Hermansen rushing out from his area, but lobs harmlessly over the bar. And it turns out he was offside anyway.

9 min: Summerville curls a pacy cross in from the left. Bowen flicks it towards the right-hand side of goal. The ball sails well wide, but had that been on target, the planted Lammens wasn’t getting to it. That was the end of a confident passing move that started with the keeper and moved upfield from right wing to left. Not the sort of move you’d expect from a team in the relegation places, which is a good sign for the Hammers.

7 min: Bowen strips Mbeumo of possession in the centre circle and advances down the right. Mbeumo makes up for his error by chasing back and reclaiming possession. It’s all a bit scrappy in these early exchanges, tell the truth.

5 min: Bowen sends that corner in from the right, but Lammens punches it clear with supreme confidence.

4 min: Diallo sets Lammens a poser with a backpass, Castellanos hovering around. The keeper clears, but West Ham press forward again, forcing Maguire into a misplaced clearance that leads to the first corner of the game.

2 min: A fairly quiet start as both teams size each other up. Cunha crosses from the left towards nobody in particular. Goal kick. In the meantime, here’s Hugh Collins: “If you had said start of season that Carrick would face Nuno, with one manager fighting for Champions League and the other fighting for survival, it would have made all the sense in the world. But not this way.”

That version of Bubbles with the bouncy bassline ends, the whistle goes, and Manchester United get the ball rolling. A roar from all four corners.

The teams are out! West Ham United sport their famous claret and blue, while Manchester United wear their second-choice kit of “snowflake … with flashes of purple and lilac.” A rare old noise at the London Stadium ahead of a fixture that delivers, one way or another, more often than not. We’ll be off in a minute!

Michael Carrick talks to TNT Sports. “[West Ham] are definitely on a good run … the league table is irrelevant … over the years it’s always been a good game down here and a tough place to come … they have got some good attacking players … we have got to be ready … we have got to be good to win the game … we want to be a team … to play together and have good connections when we have the ball and haven’t got the ball … we want individuals to express themselves … we have managed to get a good balance … there’s a lot of work to do … improvements … the boys are in a good place … we’re not getting carried away … but obviously coming here with a lot of confidence … there’s more to push … the boys are in a good rhythm so we’ll go with that tonight.”

Here’s how the Premier League table looks before this match. Manchester United can overtake Aston Villa with a win; they’d be third or fourth depending on the result of Chelsea-Leeds. Meanwhile at the bottom West Ham have the chance to close the gap on Nottingham Forest, one way or another. They’d need an unlikely four-goal win tonight if they’re to overtake Sean Dyche’s strugglers.

What’s that heady aroma of cedarwood, leather, lavender, talcum powder and pomade? Why, you’ve just wandered into the Official Guardian Barbershop! “My Manchester United supporting friend is desperate for a win so that bloke can get a haircut and he can stop hearing about him,” sighs Jakob Mathiszig-Lee.

Kieran McKintosh adds, because we’re all thinking it: “I wonder how Frank Ilett [for it is he] is feeling right now? West Ham stoppage-time equaliser, here we come!”

For those who have somehow managed to swerve this story, social-media personality Ilett (pictured below) [subs please check] hasn’t had a haircut for 16 months after refusing to get one until Manchester United won five games in a row. And so here we are, nearly 500 days and 25 centimetres later.

Nuno Espírito Santo speaks to TNT Sports. “We are organised and competing better … a lot of commitment from the players … enjoying the game … we cannot ignore the way Man United play … they are in a very good moment … a good dynamic … to have an extra body in midfield [in Freddie Potts] can help us … we start with three in the middle, let’s see how the game goes … [Manchester United] have a player that can unbalance everything in Bruno Fernandes, so we have to be really spot on.”

Manchester United haven’t had much luck against West Ham of late. This fixture last season was the straw that did for Erik ten Hag’s camel …

… and West Ham nearly saw off Ten Hag’s successor in short order when completing the league double over Manchester United towards the tail end of the campaign …

… but Amorim held on. For a bit. He’d last barely a month after this …

… and so now West Ham are in a position where they’re facing a third Manchester United manager in 14 months. If they avoid defeat tonight, they will be four unbeaten against the Red Devils across two consecutive campaigns for the first time since 1932-33/1933-34.

Both teams are in a good place right now, so changes to the starting XIs are thin on the ground. West Ham make one after their win at Burnley last weekend: Freddie Potts comes in for Callum Wilson, who drops to the bench. Manchester United meanwhile are again unchanged, naming the same starting XI for the third game in a row, after their home victories over Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur.