Simon Burnton 

Manchester United 1-1 West Ham United: Premier League – as it happened

Minute-by-minute report: West Ham made sure of their Premier League status by snaffling a point against a disappointing Manchester United at Old Trafford
  
  

Mark Noble after the draw between Manchester United v West Ham United.
Mark Noble after the draw between Manchester United v West Ham United. Photograph: Javier García/BPI/REX/Shutterstock

Right then, I’ll be off. Here’s Jamie Jackson’s match report from Old Trafford. Bye!

Mason Greenwood’s 17th goal of the season places him alongside George Best, Wayne Rooney and Brian Kidd as Manchester United’s most prolific teenagers. More important his second-half equaliser means Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side have only to draw at Leicester on Sunday’s final day to seal fourth place and Champions League qualification: a demand the manager would have accepted during the dark days of winter.

Much more here:

West Ham are officially safe. Fans of Watford and Bournemouth will hope however that they remain motivated for Sunday’s potentially decisive home clash with Aston Villa. Here’s the bottom of the table, with the Hammers now on 38 points and with slightly better goal difference than Brighton no longer in it:

Pos Team P GD Pts
16 Brighton 37 -16 38
17 Aston Villa 37 -26 34
18 Watford 37 -27 34
19 AFC Bournemouth 37 -27 31
20 Norwich 37 -44 21

So Manchester United need a draw at Leicester on Sunday to secure their Champions League place. The top of the table looks like this:

Pos Team P GD Pts
1 Liverpool 36 48 93
2 Man City 37 62 78
3 Man Utd 37 28 63
4 Chelsea 36 15 63
5 Leicester 37 28 62

Updated

Final score: Manchester United 1-1 West Ham

90+5 mins: Ighalo wins one last free-kick, West Ham head it clear, and that’s it!

90+3 mins: Yarmolenko has space to attack down the right, and the fresh legs to exploit it. Instead he turns back. West Ham seem happy with their point.

90+2 mins: There’ll be four minutes of stoppage time. Martial passes infield to Ighalo, but West Ham have him surrounded and in the end he surrenders the ball.

90+1 mins: Yarmolenko replaces Bowen, who has played well and was just flattened by Williams, who was very lucky to get away without a booking.

88 mins: United look a bit knackered. I guess West Ham’s players should be finishing the game stronger, given that they pretty much took the first three-quarters of the season off.

85 mins: And Ighalo might have scored with his first touch! Greenwood takes the ball past Masuaku on the right and crosses low and hard, and the Nigerian meets it at the near post but spears wide! Had he dummied it Martial was lurking behind him to snaffle the chance, but he wasn’t to know.

84 mins: Masuaku gets booked for going in late on Wan-Bissaka. And United bring Ighalo on in place of Rashford.

82 mins: Actually he pushed his head towards Noble’s, an act of aggression that would surely have led to a red card had the West Ham captain reacted at all theatrically. He didn’t, and VAR confirms a yellow.

Updated

81 mins: Matic fouls Fornals, and Bruno Fernandes gets booked, presumably for dissent

79 mins: West Ham are pushing for a winner here. They’ve had a couple of free-kicks, and now Fornals sends in a cross that De Gea claims. They haven’t exactly made any great chances, but they’re certainly looking like they might.

77 mins: Another West Ham substitution. Antonio is off, and Haller, after 28, 12 and 18 minutes in their last three games, will bank another 13 tonight.

74 mins: A bit of a delay while Cresswell gets some medical attention. Eventually he gets up and walks off, and Arthur Massuaku comes on.

72 mins: The Hammers win another free-kick, this time just outside the area on the right. Noble crosses, Antonio heads over when well placed.

70 mins: Bowen bounces off Rashford’s buttocks, and the United players gets booked.

69 mins: The players take their drinks before De Gea restarts play.

68 mins: Declan Rice tries to repeat the supergoal he scored against Watford last week, but this one doesn’t quite curl or dip enough and it screams wide of goal.

65 mins: In Soucek v Fernandes we’ve got a midseason-signing-of-the-season face-off. I guess Fernandes wins it, but both have been transformational I think.

62 mins: Save! Wan-Bissaka gives the ball away on the United right and West Ham move it swiftly to the other side where Bowen’s shot flicks Williams’ boot, but De Gea reacts well to tip over.

60 mins: Fernandes tees up Pogba, who has time to take a touch and line up the shot, but it goes high and wide.

58 mins: “On the subject of Pogba at the free kick, there’s a parallel with playing the bouncer in cricket,” writes Gary Naylor. “You know you’re in the firing line, so you have to plan - duck, sway or wear it. If you raise your hands, you’re going to get caught.” This is true, except that footballers defending a free-kick can’t really duck or sway, so it’s just a question of how they wear it.

56 mins: Williams v Bowen is the night’s most intriguing match-up. Williams runs into the penalty area, feels an arm leaning against him, and goes down. The referee tells him to get up.

53 mins: Bowen gets the better of Williams again, cuts onto his left foot, but is closed down by two defenders before he can get the shot away.

52 mins: That’s the way to beat a side defending in depth and numbers: get the ball towards the edge of the penalty area and then use rat-a-tat passing and lightning movement to take it from there. Very close to undefendable.

GOAL! Manchester United 1-1 West Ham (Greenwood, 50 mins)

Excellent build-up here from United, with Greenwood passing to Martial, getting it back, giving it to Martial again, getting it back again, and then smashing a low left-footer inside the near post. Almost a trademark finish, if an 18-year-old can have one of those.

Updated

46 mins: The Hammers are really looking very decent here. The way they stroke the ball about in the first minute of the second half is really excellently good, but Johnson’s cross at the end of it is not.

46 mins: And they’re off! Again!

One half-timely change for Manchester United: Wan-Bissaka replaces Fosu-Mensah. The second half will begin imminently.

“Ball coming at speed directly at your face. I don’t think that thousands of years of evolution can be unlearned,” argues Mary Waltz. I do have sympathy for Pogba there, but I noted that Gary Neville, an actual professional footballer (once) had none.

“Did is miss something or did Pogba not get a yellow card there? Surely, that’s gotta be a yellow, right?” No yellow. It was an act of cowardice rather than malice.

Half time: Manchester United 0-1 West Ham

45+3 mins: And that’s the last significant action of the half! Manchester United started excellently, got gradually worse, and trail at the break!

GOAL! Manchester United 0-1 West Ham (Antonio, 45+2 mins)

Antonio sends De Gea the wrong way and sidefoots his penalty gently into the empty half of goal!

Updated

45+1 mins: This is going to be a penalty. I can’t really blame Pogba for raising his hands, given the speed at which a ball was rocketing towards his head, it’s a basic human impulse. Sadly it’s one that footballers have to learn to override.

Updated

45 mins: The free-kick is passed infield to Rice, who smashes a drive straight into Pogba! His hands were up and West Ham are asking for a penalty!

45 mins: Fosu-Mensah is booked for bringing down Antonio as he built up another head of steam.

43 mins: Chance for West Ham! Johnson sends in a high cross that dips towards Lindelof at the far post, but Antonio arrives on the scene at the last moment and the pair combine to send the ball towards goal from six yards or so, but straight at De Geat! United might well have been given a free-kick had the ball gone in the net, but we shall never know.

39 mins: Chance! This time it’s Williams outfoxing Bowen, his cross deflects off Soucek to Greenwood, and he smashes a shot into a defender.

38 mins: The full-backs combine, Williams crossing from the left and Fosu-Mensah running infield from the right and attempting a jumping backheel flick-volley which would have been splendid had he connected properly, but wasn’t.

36 mins: Rashford stings Fabianski’s palms with a vicious, dipping 30-yarder. The keeper can’t catch it, but can push it away to safety. “Too slow so far from United it’s like watching a peak LVG team,” moans Neil Carter. “Very easy for the Irons with Antonio lurking always a threat. We need to up the intensity which seems to be tricky under the current circumstances. Never thought I’d say this but we are missing Shaw.”

Updated

33 mins: Everything’s a bit slow at present, but West Ham are probably looking the more dangerous. In particular, Bowen is giving Williams headaches on the right.

31 mins: From the corner Bowen crosses, Ogbonna wins the header, but he sends the chance wide.

30 mins: Now West Ham a spell of pressure. They take their time getting the ball into United’s half, but then Fornals lifts it crossfield to Bowen, who comfortably outmanoeuvres Williams, but Matic gets back to sweep up the danger.

27 mins: A long spell of United possession ends with Rashford taking on Johnson and losing.

23 mins: Fosu-Mensah finds space on the right, but Pogba delays the pass for a vital second and by the time he releases it the full-back is offside. Shame, as it was a great chance to make a great chance, although nobody converted the cross anyway.

21 mins: The corner’s a tasty one, but it lands on Maguire’s boot and is cleared. West Ham work the ball wide again and Bowen crosses, this time picking out Maguire’s head. Ogbonna challenges a little too hard, and United will clear from the free-kick.

20 mins: Antonio rips past Williams on the right, and Maguire turns his cross behind for a corner. The only problem with Antonio ripping past Williams on the right is that he’s not then in the middle when the cross comes in.

Updated

18 mins: Martial tires of the search for space and bangs a rising shot from 23 yards or so which rises well over the bar.

17 mins: West Ham have established their foothold in the game. In the first couple of minutes their backline was a little high, giving Martial space to run behind, but they have since dropped back and are now making life difficult for the hosts.

14 mins: Chance for United! Rashford lifts the ball into the area from the left, picking out Fernandes, but he controls it with his right foot into his left shin, and it rolls out of play. “His touch is awful,” laments Gary Neville on Sky.

Updated

11 mins: The visitors get a tasty set piece on the left, on the corner of the penalty area. Cresswell, no longer limping, curls it in but only red shirts attack it, for some reason. Goal kick.

9 mins: West Ham are crowding central areas and daring United to break them down (again). They haven’t yet. Cresswell seems to be limping a bit.

6 mins: The home side look up for this. West Ham are fighting to get a foothold in the game.

3 mins: Now Greenwood shoots from the edge of the area, again set up by Fernandes, but he doesn’t get enough power on his shot and Fabianski collects.

2 mins: Save! Fernandes plays a pretty simple pass down the right and Martial runs into the box, is given a bit too much space by Diop and cracks a shot goalwards which Fabianski has to dive to palm away.

1 min: Peeeeeeep! Bruno Fernandes gets the ball rolling.

The players are out and almost ready for action, but will first have a minute’s silence for Alex Dawson, the former United striker, who died this week aged 80.

“Hi Simon,” writes Rob Carey. “Just wondering if anyone wanted to bet on what minute Man Utd will get their penalty tonight? I’ll go for the 36th minute.”

Tough call, this one. Looks like Fernandes is further off the ground and Pogba is closer to the sky.

David Moyes is asked to explain West Ham’s improved recent form. He doesn’t entirely succeed.

Well, there’s never only one thing but we’ve been scoring goals, we’ve been making chances, we’ve defended a little bit better in the last couple of games. But I just think making chances and taking chances when we’ve got them as well.

“Huge game for United tonight because you know qualifying for the Champions League keeps Adidas happy and any prospective new recruits who just have a burning desire to play six games in next years competition,” meows Neil Carter. “Enough cynicism, after the debacle that was the FA Cup Semi three points would be great! Good luck in goal tonight David, no pressure son!”

Eight people photographed standing close together at Old Trafford. The odd thing about this photograph is that I can’t for the life of me work out who is talking/interacting/fist-bumping who.

I love how Robbie Savage is working the camera here.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer makes four changes, bringing in Pogba, Martia, Fosu-Mensah and Greenwood, and leaving out Bailly, Wan-Bissaka, Fred and James. West Ham are unchanged.

The teams!

The team sheets have been handed in, and this afternoon/evening/morning/whatever’s game will feature this lot:

Manchester United: De Gea, Fosu-Mensah, Lindelof, Maguire, Williams, Pogba, Matic, Greenwood, Bruno Fernandes, Rashford, Martial. Subs: Mata, Lingard, Fred, Dalot, James, Romero, Ighalo, Wan Bissaka, McTominay.
West Ham: Fabianski, Johnson, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Bowen, Noble, Fornals, Antonio. Subs: Balbuena, Yarmolenko, Felipe Anderson, Lanzini, Wilshere, Haller, Masuaku, Randolph, Coventry.
Referee: Paul Tierney.

Hello world!

West Ham are now unofficially safe, though given that Watford and Aston Villa could both catch them on points (their goal differences are inferior by 14 and 13 respectively, so some thrashings would need to be handed out) they will be eager to bank the one point it would take to make it official. Wins tonight and at home to Villa on Sunday would leave them with a sufficiently large final points tally for the whole relegation threat to seem like a grim and distant dream. They might be inspired by these opponents: when the Hammers beat United 2-0 in September they were, with six games played, merrily skimming along in fifth (one place above Bournemouth). Happy memories, but they won only two more games before the end of 2019, losing nine, and by the turn of the year they were 17th (one place below Bournemouth).

It’s got to be said that they probably won’t win, mind. Manchester United are a team transformed over the last few months, and their FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea on Sunday is the only reverse in any competition in the last six months - it is their half-year anniversary of their last league defeat, against Burnley at Old Trafford, today. They also have the incentive of knowing that draws in their last two games (they play Leicester, with whom they are currently level-pegging on both points and goal difference, in their last fixture on Sunday) would be enough to secure Champions League football next season, which would be a jolly impressive thing to achieve.

So, in short, we should have two teams in good form trying to win this game of football. Huzzah!

 

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