[ad_1]
Mason Greenwood (Getty Images)
United manchester again needed a fight in the second half to win West Ham 3-1 Saturday in the first Premier league match with fans inside the stadium since March.
A crowd of 2,000 Hammers supporters watched their team take a well-deserved lead in the first half thanks to Tomas Soucek at London Stadium.
But United kicked off a great week with a much-needed victory as three goals in 13 minutes from Paul Pogba, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford brought Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men to fourth place and two points off the Premier League leaders. .
West Ham had to regret not having more chances in the first half before Solskjaer went back to his bench to pull United out of a hole.
The Red Devils need a point when they travel to RB Leipzig on Tuesday to secure a place in the Champions League round of 16 before hosting Manchester City next weekend.
However, Solskjaer’s plan to give Bruno Fernandes and Rashford a break before the trip to Germany fell through, as United were lucky to stay in the game before the break.
Jarrod Bowen had a goal disallowed for offside before Pablo Fornals led a great opportunity at the side net.
Fornals got even closer moments later when the Spaniard stabbed a shot into the post.
But the goal West Ham deserved came seven minutes before halftime, when Soucek turned a Declan Rice corner kick off the back post.
Sebastien Haller should have doubled the advantage of David Moyes’ men, but the Ivorian slipped the goal at his mercy after surrounding Dean Henderson, who replaced the injured David de Gea.
Fernandes and Rashford were called up at half-time and United were a different team in the second half, as for the fifth consecutive Premier League game they came from behind to win.
Pogba produced the flash of brilliance he’s capable of, but has rarely shown himself in a United jersey to kick off the comeback when he fired a long-range shot from a Fernandes pass.
Moyes was furious on the touchline because he believed the ball had gone out of play since Henderson’s punt onto Fernandes’ path, but the VAR could find no conclusive evidence to disallow the goal.
Three minutes later, the visitors took the lead when an Alex Telles cross was brilliantly controlled and thrashed at the net by Greenwood for his first Premier League goal of the season.
United was now in full flow as they could strike back in acres of space behind the Hammers defense.
Rashford had a sighter when he hit a brilliant Fernandes’ post through the ball.
But the English international proved clinical with a second chance, as this time Mata unlocked West Ham’s defense and Rashford coldly lifted the ball over Lukasz Fabianski who was advancing 12 minutes from time.
