It's an age-old adage in the Premier League that you need to win even on your worst days in order to make the cut for the top spots. Manchester United did just that last night, as despite a poor performance at the London Stadium they picked up all 3 points against a charged-up West Ham United side. The Hammers, who had a man send off in the early parts of the game were going strong despite their numerical inferiority and forced David de Gea to make some outstanding saves.
However, as it turned out, United finally responded and Juan Mata gave them the lead in the 63rd minute after some fine work on the wings from Marcus Rashford. Zlatan Ibrahimovic then doubled the lead with 12 minutes left on the clock with a snapshot, although he was a yard or so offside. It was the Swede's 18th goal in all competitions this season, and he has already overtaken Anthony Martial's 17-goal tally from last season.
It was the Red Devils' 6th Premier League win on the spin, a feat that had been unmatched since Sir Alex Ferguson's last season in charge. The win also sees them only 5 points off from 2nd place, which is a colossal change considering that they had been 9 points off from 4th place at the start of December.
Here are the 5 things we learnt from the game:
#1 David de Gea proves why he is one of the best, once again
When Sir Alex Ferguson brought him to Old Trafford back in 2011, most pundits doubted if he would make it to 25 appearances, let alone 250. But David de Gea did just that last night, and he marked the occasion with a string of fantastic saves.
In the first half, the Spaniard flew to his left to deny a wonderful curling effort from Manuel Lanzini, and repeated the effort, this time to his other side from the same player. However, his best save came against Michail Antonio after the break.
The Englishman had caught the United defence napping and bore down on his goal, but the Spaniard was up to the task. He covered his angles well and won the battle of wits in the one versus one as he deflected the shot with his shins. Juan Mata handed United the lead just two minutes later.
The former Atletico Madrid man is an elite level goalkeeper, and at 25 years of age, he is only going to get better. With such a wonderful range of shot stopping abilities, he might just go down as one of the greatest of all time as well.
#2 Jose Mourinho got his substitutions bang on
Jose Mourinho seems to be confident enough to place his trust on his team and that fact was highlighted once again yesterday. Eager to break the deadlock, he bought on Rashford for the ineffective Lingard; took off Darmian and introduced Mata, pushed Rojo to left back and shifted Michael Carrick to the centre of defence. The move paid off, as Mata handed the Devils the lead.
It is not easy to manage your squad effectively during the festive season and pocket points as well, but the Portuguese has done just that. With 9 points from 3 games, United are well and truly back in the race for the top 4 and this may just be a sign of better things to come still.
#3 Refereeing again under the spotlight
Fans and experts alike have been critical of the referees this season, and their claims are justified. It seems to get worse especially when United play. Mike Dean and his team were officials on the pitch last night and he drew flak from the West Ham faithful for not only wrongly sending Sofiane Feghouli off in the 15th minute but also for not disallowing Ibrahimovic's offside goal.
This was the second game on the bounce that Dean has shown a red card harshly after he did the same to Southampton's Nathon Redmond last week. This led to the home fans chanting, “Mike Dean, it's all about you” while the away section were relieved that they were at least on the profitable side of a poor decision once.
Manchester Evening News had listed 14 such instances when a wrong call by the referee had cost United this season, but finally, parity was restored it seems.
#4 Rashford is a real game-changer
Marcus Rashford may not have scored in a while, but he is a key cog in the United forward line. Last night, he was subbed in the second half to inject some pace in the attacking section which looked pedestrian at times, and he did just that. His ability to hug the by-lines, shimmy past full backs and put in wonderful low crosses is the reason why we bagged a win yesterday.
He not only set the goal up for Mata but also took the home defence to task repeatedly. Both he and Martial have the innate ability to flip the game on its head thanks to their speed and skill, and if only they can add some more goals to their kitty, they may turn out to be one of the best duos in the world in a few years time.
#5 West Ham need to loosen their purse strings this January
The Londoners started off yesterday without a natural number 9, and it is obvious why. Manager Slaven Bilic decided to give Andy Caroll a rest after he featured for all 90 minutes against Leicester on New Year's eve, which was justified. However, he neither started off with Andre Ayew nor Ashley Fletcher, which was surprising. The former made a cameo appearance later on, but couldn't really make a positive impression.
The West Ham board needs to get a good striker on board if they still dream to have a respectable finish this season.
