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Manchester United are doing what it takes – winning to ensure that those chasing do not gain ground, this daring victory follows that of third-place Leicester on Sunday.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s team wasn’t an irresistible football buzz, but they won’t mind. By pressuring Craig Dawson to pass his own goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski for the winner, the home team also kept the Hammers nine points behind them in fifth place in the challenge for a Champions League berth.
The coach called this week “massive” because the game was followed by Thursday’s trip to Milan for the second leg of the Europa League round of 16 (the tie is about 1-1) and the FA Cup quarter-finals on Sunday in Leicester. “We are starting to gain some momentum, we have further opened the gap with West Ham, which was important,” Solskjaer said.
“We want to improve from last season: finish second, reach a final, so this week was always going to be huge.” Manchester United are undefeated in 13 games and have only allowed one goal in their last six. “If you have clean sheets you have a good foundation,” said the manager.
He was able to select Marcus Rashford after it was an injury issue, while David Moyes was unable to call Jesse Lingard in form against the player’s parent club. Moyes will be pleased with the opening as his side applied pressure. It culminated in a corner won by Michail Antonio. Mark Noble threw this at the far post, Aaron Wan-Bissaka fell, as did Dawson, in a mini-pileup of players, but referee Martin Atkinson saw no fault.
This was as good as West Ham advanced while Solksjær’s team dominated. First came a measured sequence in which Rashford moved along a right channel and fed Mason Greenwood and when he touched inside Luke Shaw greeted him, rolled onto a cross, and there was Greenwood to attempt a back heel.
Twice when Greenwood received the ball, loose distribution gave him away, a foul later repeated by Wan-Bissaka, prompting Captain Harry Maguire to inform his team in a colorful diction to “order.” On this, Solskjær said: “Everyone needed it. Either digging or calming. Maybe it was calmer because the attitude was there. “
This had turned into a home attack versus away defense competition. Greenwood’s footwork divided the latter and a threatening cross earned a shot from a teammate who was absent while Dawson and Fabianski cleaned up. Then Rashford threw a pass behind Dawson that put Shaw close to the goal on the baseline. Again West Ham escaped, but there was more encouragement that the accumulated resistance could be broken.
Greenwood is unmanageable when running, as he did after being fed by Bruno Fernandes. The center-forward’s turn-then-shot headed for Fabianski’s right corner before the keeper threw it to the post.
Greenwood was distraught, but West Ham was reeling. A killer touch was missing, like when Daniel James fired a ball in the opening of the second half that he had no teammate to turn home to. Copious possession means nothing if you fail to score goals and there is also the danger of being hit on the counter, although West Ham’s lack of ambition tempered this.
Given his position, Moyes may have planned a draw, but if so, it soon required a rethink. After Dawson left the Greenwood cross, Vladimir Coufal stabbed her. Now, Dawson paid for the mistake: Fernandes punctured in the corner from the left, Scott McTominay got up, as did the center-back, which Maguire assisted closely: Dawson’s header was a classic in his own goal, arriving while trying to clear but only managing to beat Fabianski with unwanted ease.
West Ham’s response came via a penalty call as Maguire challenged Tomas Soucek, but Atkinson conceded a goal kick. At the other end, Fernandes’ 20-yard effort was stopped by a strong palm from Fabianski. West Ham tried, but Greenwood came within a second when he hit Fabianski’s right post.
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“Mason deserved a goal, he was excellent tonight,” said Solskjær, who will have reinforcements for Milan. “It is very likely that Edinson [Cavani] and Anthony [Martial] they are fit donny [van de Beek] hopefully too. Paul [Pogba] I could even make the trip and David [de Gea] He has returned from isolation. “
Solskjær was asked if he was in talks about a new contract. “My thinking is doing my job to the best of my ability,” he said. Moyes said: “[I’m] disappointed that we lost, but parts of the game we played well and other parts we didn’t. “
