That was a top-four six-pointer and no mistake. Had West Ham won, they would now be three points behind Manchester United. Instead, they are nine points behind, and probably struggling to make the top four. But in the way he set up, David Moyes showed little interest in trying to win that match in the first half and can have no complaints about the result.
That’s all from me - thanks as always for reading and for emailing - and see you next time. Bye for now.
Jamie Jackson’s match report has landed. Have a read:
Scott McTominay speaks: “It was really important to win the third tough game of the week ... West Ham set up really well, they made it hard for us first-half ... the message at half-time was to keep it the same, keep playing the best tempo you can possibly play at, and keep moving the ball from side to side.
“A lot of the boys were frustrated ... but it’s not moaning, shaking your head, when you play against teams who sit in, and do it well ... you have to play to the tempo that you normally play at and be positive in everything you do.
“It’s difficult to look at top four, because we had a time when we were looking at the league ... but Manchester City have had a terrific run of games, and we’re just doing our best to try and keep on them.”
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Full time! Manchester United 1-0 West Ham
You have to wonder what West Ham might have achieved had Moyes been more positive in his selection and tactics. They offered nothing before half-time, but once they fell behind to an own-goal by Craig Dawson, and brought on Lanzini and Benrahma, they created quite a bit and caused the hosts plenty of problems.
But that’s that. Manchester United are back into second position in the league, leapfrogging Leicester who thumped Sheffield United earlier today. Tonight’s affair was not the highest quality but there was at least some excitement after half-time. Greenwood and Shaw were very good for the hosts, while Fabianski, the West Ham goalkeeper, is very unfortunate to end up on the losing side this evening after a fine display. Overall, however, West Ham were disappointing. Post-match reaction coming up - and a match report will follow too.
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93 min: West Ham attack on the left. Lindelof boots the ball into Row ‘Z’. West Ham take it forward again and win a corner ... but the referee blows for full time! There’s no time to take it!
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90 min: Lanzini and Rice manage to dispossess Fernandes in midfield. It looks a fair challenge but the referee pulls it back for a foul. Fernandes got a little lucky there, you feel, as Gary Neville observes from the commentary box. Daniel James is booked for a foul on Benrahma. Deep into stoppage time now with three added minutes due to be played.
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88 min: Rice horribly overhits a cross, and holds his head in his hands. Into the final minute of normal time. Man Utd are on the verge of a fourth straight clean sheet in the Premier League - and will retake second spot from Leicester.
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85 min: Manchester United’s James strides into space on the right and swings a cross over which is cleared by West Ham. The hosts enjoy a spell of possession, stroking the ball around in midfield and probing for an opening. James clips a swerving cross into the six-yard box which Fabianski can only parry, but there is no Man Utd player on hand to mop it up and West Ham clear, still only a goal behind and still in with the chance of a point. But can they find a goal from somewhere?
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82 min: The Hammers have been very much enlivened by the introduction of Benrahma and Lanzini. They commit several men forward to another attack, which ends when the ball won’t quite come down for an effort by Benrahma on the left, and it’s a goal kick.
80 min: West Ham drive forward and Soucek has a sight of goal in the penalty area - Maguire puts his body on the line and blocks the shot. Still, considering West Ham had zero efforts on goal in the first half, they are showing a transformed attitude in attack having gone behind.
77 min: Greenwood slams a shot against the post! That was nearly game, set and match. Again there was plenty of space for Manchester United to stream into, with more West Ham bodies committed forward in the search for an equaliser. Greenwood takes aim and beats Fabianski with a powerful left-footed shot, ignoring Rashford who is making an overlapping run on his left, but it rebounds to safety off the base of a post.
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76 min: West Ham try to run the ball out of defence. Rashford is booked for a reckless lunge on Coufal, who needs treatment.
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74 min: Space is easier to come by for United now. Diop loses the ball in midfield for West Ham and leaves his teammates horribly exposed. It’s a four on two quick counterattack for the home team, but James plays a poor pass to Fernandes, which is behind his teammate, and the Hammers have a chance to recover their defensive shape. That was a poor error by Diop swiftly followed by a poor error by James. It’s not been a classic, whichever way you look at it.
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71 min: Wan-Bissaka feeds Greenwood, who shows good feet and pace to venture into the penalty area. But the ball gets away from him, and Fabianski, who has been excellent, comes out to smother yet again.
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70 min: The tempo is considerably higher now, and whoever is controlling the volume of Sky Sports’ artificial crowd noise is quite right to turn the dial up a bit, if not quite all the way up to 11.
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64 min: McTominay strokes a fine long ball out to Rashford in the left channel. Rashford immediately dinks a perceptive low pass into the path of the onrushing Fernandes, who strides into the penalty area. Fabianski bravely rushes off his line to smother the ball, and does so in a 50-50 challenge. Both Fabianski and Fernandes go down, and need treatment. Thankfully both are OK. It initially looked like it might be a bad one for the West Ham goalkeeper, so that is a relief.
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63 min: Bowen has a shot blocked. But the ball comes straight back, with a cross being bent to the far post for Bowen. He sends a header fractionally wide of the post, and was offside anyway, but West Ham have come alive!
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60 min: Another superb stop from Fabianski, after Fernandes hits a rasping right-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area. The Polish goalie gets down well to his right and parries the effort away. It was Wan-Bissaka who teed up Fernandes for the shot. We’ve got a game on here, people. Soucek immediately has a half-chance with a header at the other end but it goes well wide. As advertised, Benrahma and Lanzini come on, Noble and Johnson go off.
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58 min: West Ham threaten again, after Bowen turns the ball goalwards and Maguire challenges Soucek who has a glimpse of goal. Soucek turns around and appeals to the referee for a penalty, but nothing doing. West Ham have been woken up by conceding, which is good for the neutrals among us.
56 min: West Ham have a little more urgency about them immediately. Rice slides a pass to Antonio in a central position, who cracks a shot from distance, which is blocked and flies out for a corner. Maguire clears the corner. Manuel Lanzini and Saïd Benrahma are coming on for West Ham.
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Goal! 53 min: Man Utd 1-0 West Ham (Dawson own goal)
The deadlock is broken! A corner is swung in from the left, McTominay rises highest at the near post and glances a header towards goal. Dawson, who is unsighted, inadvertently heads the ball into his own net from close range. It was a good effort by McTominay to win that header and the reward was the opening goal, thanks partly to a slice of luck. Moyes must get his thinking cap on, and surely show a little more ambition in attack.
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53 min: Close! Greenwood bursts down the right with another pacy run. He crosses low, and Cresswell decides to leave it, meaning Soufal has to clear for a corner.
50 min: Yet again, Shaw links well with Rashford and rushes to the byline. He cuts a cross back, low towards the penalty spot, but West Ham’s packed defence clears the danger.
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49 min: McTominay is booked for a foul on Issa Diop. Fred makes a run into the West Ham half, but Declan Rice slides in to swiftly extinguish the chance of any excitement.
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47 min: Lindelöf wanders into midfield and sends a hopeful punt towards the West Ham goal. Cresswell should deal with it, outside of the penalty area, but he falls over and Manchester United mount at attack down the right which ends with a cross flashing across the West Ham six-yard box.
Second-half kick-off!
Will Moyes shuffle his pack? Will Manchester United find a way to break down this resolute Hammers defence? Will we see something a bit more exciting than the first half ... please?
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Half-time! Manchester United 0-0 West Ham
That wasn’t great, in truth. West Ham have packed their own penalty area in defence, and Manchester United have struggled to break them down for the most part. Greenwood forced a fine save from Fabianski with a low shot, Shaw has been very bright and energetic on the left, and Rashford fluffed a free header. West Ham have offered almost nothing in attack.
Here’s that Rashford missed header. See you in a few minutes for more.
Got to score...
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 14, 2021
Marcus Rashford has had the biggest chance so far at Old Trafford
📺 Watch on Sky Sports PL
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43 min: Soucek wins the ball with Man Utd on the attack. He strides into the opposition half into loads of space, and does well to hold the ball up, waiting seemingly an age for his teammates to join him on the counter. Eventually a couple of them do, but the move inevitably breaks down. David Moyes doesn’t look happy on the touchline, in fact he looks very annoyed about something, and I imagine it’s the hesitancy with which his players treated that chance to hit on the break, something which is central to their tactical approach tonight.
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38 min: Rashford has a half-chance, or maybe a three-quarter chance, with another header at the far post, but it’s straight at Fabianski. At the other end, Jarrod Bowen catches Luke Shaw napping from a throw in, and he’s nearly in on goal - but he fails to control the ball which bounces out for a goal kick. Bowen throws his head back as he berates himself for the mistake.
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37 min: Great save! Manchester United mount a lightning-fast counterattack after a throw out by Henderson. West Ham for once are shortstaffed in defence and Fernandes plays in Greenwood, who has space to sprint into a central position with a clear sight of goal, advancing into the penalty area. Greenwood hits a good low shot which looks destined for the bottom corner, but Fabianski does superbly to dive to his right and touch the ball on to the post! That’s the best move and the best chance of the match.
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34 min: Rashford makes a dart on the left into the penalty area. He falls over, but immediately manages to propel himself back on to his feet, keeping possession and keeping the attack going. Manchester United work the ball around a little more, and Rashford then plays a ball for a sprinting Shaw, who continues to be full of running on the left. West Ham continue to hold firm, however, as we move into the final 10 minutes of the first half.
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30 min: More good work from Shaw, and more good work from Greenwood. The full-back floats a lovely ball in to the young forward, who has his back to goal on the left of the penalty area. He kills it with instant control, then quick as a flash he darts towards the byline, leaving his marker Declan Rice in his wake, and cuts a low ball back into the danger zone. Fabianski deals with it, but that was incisive forward play, and Greenwood has now provided a couple of bright moments for his team against a West Ham side that are fixated on defence in this first half.
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27 min: Harry Maguire has gone down injured after an accidental aerial clash with Antonio. He looks a bit shaken but after a couple of minutes, seems OK to carry on. On replay it seems Antonio caught him with a glancing, accidental hand while they both jumped for a header.
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25 min: Chance! A fine cross from Greenwood on the right finds Marcus Rashford, unmarked, at the far post. Rashford climbs to meet it and times his jump well, but he gets the header all wrong, trying to power it goalwards but making poor contact. The ball bounces out for a goal kick, and Rashford can be heard shouting in frustration, seriously disappointed with himself.
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23 min: Now Fernandes and Greenwood link up on the edge of the penalty area. It’s a decent one-two to start with, and Fernandes then hits a shot, but he scuffs it horribly and it dribbles harmlessly in the general direction of the goal, but not on target.
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21 min: The full-back Shaw, a rare bright spark in this dull encounter thus far, makes another strong run on the left for the hosts, but Soucek pulls off a good sliding tackle at the expense of a corner. Maguire wins a header from that corner, but again West Ham have plenty of resources available to clear the danger. Defences are on top.
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17 min: West Ham now have a period of possession with Manchester United the team to drop back and invite their opponents forward. Antonio tries to hold a ball up on the left, but is crowded out. Cresswell then swings in a good deep cross from the left wing - which takes a deflection off McTominay - and Henderson pulls off a slightly panicky punch, advancing off his line, which Fred is able to clear. Bowen has gone down injured for West Ham having challenged Henderson for that high ball. Anyway, this is a pretty dour spectacle so far, it has to be said, with nothing that could be described as a clear goal-scoring chance.
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15 min: Fred fouls Bowen from behind in midfield while the West Ham man has a glimmer of space, and perhaps a chance to play in Antonio up front. It’s an obviously cynical foul but no yellow card is forthcoming.
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12 min: West Ham try to pass neatly out of defence, but the ball is intercepted and things briefly threaten to open up for Rashford and his fellow Manchester United attackers. But West Ham manage to regroup, and deal with the danger. It’s a bit of a stalemate at the moment, both tactically and on the scoreboard. Early days.
9 min: The Hammers are packing their own penalty area with bodies and telling Manchester United, simply by their actions, that they are going to have a tough job to find a way through. Fred and McTominay link up on the edge of the area, but Fred is swallowed up by the sea of West Ham bodies and the Hammers can clear.
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7 min: A fairly frenetic start, with both teams looking to get the ball down and play. West Ham look happy enough to let the hosts have possession in midfield, and will look to use the pace of Antonio, among others, on the break while they sit relatively deep when out of possession.
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3 min: Nice work by Luke Shaw, who plays a one-two with Rashford and drives into the penalty area. He side foots a cross towards Greenwood, but the forward cannot make any meangingful contact as he tries to turn it towards goal. Now Declan Rice has gone down injured after an awkward-looking challenge with Scott McTominay, and he gets up and hobbles around a bit, but then seems OK to carry on.
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2 min: West Ham win an early corner. Wan-Bissaka falls over as he challenges West Ham’s Dawson at the far post. A few players end up on the floor, but in the end Man Utd can clear their lines.
First half kick-off!
We’re off! The players take a knee, in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign, and the football commences.
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That clean sheet stat for Man Utd does feel a bit surprising, given some people seem to insist that their defence is dodgy as anything...
@LukeMcLaughlin Can't believe the way we have started matches this could be United's fourth clean sheet in the Premier League? Good to hear Ole keep the old 'Arry Redknap rhetoric of 'down to the bare bones' going
— Paul Howarth (@TOOFEE) March 14, 2021
Ted Lee emails: “I’m perplexed by United’s decision to extend Solskjaer. He hasn’t won anything, hasn’t come all that close, and if he left the club, it’s doubtful that any of the big clubs would come calling for him, which isn’t something you’d say about Guardiola, Klopp, Rodgers, Tuchel, or even Mourinho these days. Even Barcelona is reportedly claiming to be sniffing around Arteta. Would it have pained United to wait a couple of months to see how the season ends and what their options are?”
Here’s a story from Friday, all about how the co-chairman Avram Glazer is going to sell a cool £70m-worth of Manchester United shares:
Ole Gunnar Solskjær talks: “Rashford trained yesterday and there was no reaction [from his recent injury], thankfully. We are down to the bare bones with the forwards ... but we’ve got a strong team, I feel. They’ve got their strengths, no matter what system they play: we’ve got to stop crosses, we’ve got to press and win the ball back high.”
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If Manchester United keep a clean sheet tonight, it would be their fourth in a row in the Premier League and the first time they have achieved the feat under their current manager.
If West Ham win, they would be the fourth London club to win at Old Trafford this season, which would be a first in the Premier League era.
As for Moyes, he is winless in 13 attempts as a visiting manager here.
Arsenal have only gone and beaten Tottenham 2-1 in a very exciting north London derby, that included a ludicrous rabona from Erik Lamela, before he was sent off. Read the match report from David Hytner!
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Here are tonight’s teams again, embellished with the magic of Photoshop:
📋 Here's your 1️⃣1️⃣ #MUFC men to take on West Ham!
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) March 14, 2021
💻 https://t.co/YS4CBzXRmU
#️⃣ #MUNWHU
🏆 #PL
West Ham:
Here's how we line up tonight at Old Trafford...#MUNWHU
— West Ham United (@WestHam) March 14, 2021
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“If you don’t run you don’t play, it’s as simple as that.”
David Moyes’s managerial philosophy in precis. Jacob Steinberg spoke to West Ham’s Aaron Cresswell before this one:
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Teams
Marcus Rashford is fit to start up front for the hosts - he will be in a front three with Daniel James and Mason Greenwood. Rashford is one of four changes from the 1-1 draw against AC Milan, with Victor Lindelöf, Luke Shaw and Fred also coming into the side.
Man Utd: Henderson, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelöf, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay, Fred, Greenwood, Bruno Fernandes, James, Rashford. Subs: Bailly, Grant, Diallo, Alex Telles, Bishop, Matic, Williams, Tuanzebe, Shoretire.
Mark Noble starts in midfield for West Ham - with Jarrod Bowen and Ben Johnson also coming into David Moyes’s starting lineup:
West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal, Dawson, Diop, Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Johnson, Noble, Bowen, Antonio. Subs: Balbuena, Benrahma, Lanzini, Alves, Martin, Trott, Odubeko, Coventry.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Lancashire)
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Preamble
Leicester City’s 5-0 drubbing of Sheffield United earlier today has vaulted them to second place on 56 points, dropping Manchester United to third on 54. So there will hardly any lack of motivation for Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side to register maximum points against West Ham at Old Trafford this evening and retake their place as the closest, albeit distant, challengers to the Premier League leaders and champions-elect Manchester City.
But tonight’s visitors West Ham would truly put the cat amongst the top-four pigeons with a victory of their own: three points would put them level with fourth-placed Chelsea on 51, and just three points behind tonight’s opponents. David Moyes returns to the scene of his brief employment in 2013-14 with an impressively hard-working team and a realistic chance of victory - although he would have rather had on-loan Jesse Lingard to call on, who has been on sparkling form but is unavailable tonight against his parent club.
Manchester United achieved a fine win against against Pep Guardiola’s City seven days ago, while Moyes’s men were beaten by the same opponents at the end of last month. The form book says home win, but Moyes would dearly love to record a first victory against his previous employers since they unceremoniously dismissed him several years ago. Team news and much more coming right up.
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