The Norwegian winger, 20, scored West Ham's third in a 3-0 win after powering home a rocket in what's being described as his best performance of the season.

But it was what Samuelsen did after that showed a real touch of class.

He played down the quality of his own finish - then dedicated the goal to lifelong friends Pedro and Carlos Ballester, with Pedro battling cancer.

Samuelsen said: "“My goal was okay. In terms of technique, it was nothing special, but it means something special for me and some people close to me.

“I want to take the opportunity to dedicate this goal to one of my oldest and closest friends, who lives in Manchester. I went to school with his brother and he’s fighting cancer.

“I spoke to him before the game and I told him, his brother and his family that I wanted to score for them.

"I’m really happy I was able to keep that promise. Pedro and Carlos Ballester, that goal was for you my friends.”

Grady Diangana and Toni Martinez netted for West Ham in the rout against a Manchester United side who had  Luca Ercolani sent off.

Samuelsen admits the red card was a turning point and said: “The red card certainly made a difference. They have some good players in their team and they definitely had threats to score.

“Of course, we took the lead, but once they got their man sent off we completely dominated possession. When we didn’t have the ball we immediately had three players closing down, so we made it difficult for them.”