MANCHESTER UNITED V WEST HAM - REVIEW

Manchester United beat West Ham 1-0

Manchester United won their home game against West Ham to go 2nd in the Premier League table on Sunday night. A Craig Dawson own goal in the 53' from a Bruno Fernandes corner kick sealed the win for The Red Devils against The Hammers. Having avoided conceding a goal, we attained a 4th clean sheet in a row in the league, the first time they have achieved that under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. West Ham never really threatened Dean Henderson until the introduction of Said Benharama. Though they did try to break the fort, MUFC defence stood tall and strong.

Antonio and Bowen were West Ham's biggest threats but were kept quiet by our backline
[via Sky Sports]

Both sides started the game energetically with West Ham winning a corner in the first few minutes. West Ham seemed happy with United having most of the possession. David Moyes' game plan was to sit back and hit United at the break with the pace of Antonio and Bowen. United had 61% possession in the game to 39% of West Ham. As we've seen time and again, Solskjaer's team found it difficult to break down the low block of The Hammers and play through them.

Greenwood getting back to his best?
[via United In Focus]

Mason Greenwood had a superb game. It was unfortunate two of his shots cranked the post - one a fine save from Lucasz Fabianski. His wing play, linkups and passing showed how far Greenwood has evolved and matured as a footballer. In the 25' of the game, he put in a cross on a plate to Marcus Rashford. The only thing Rashford had to do was to direct his header on target. But he mistimed his header to lose the best chance of the first half. Greenwood provided a couple of bright moments against a West Ham side who were determined to defend through the 45 minutes.

Shaw yet again won the MOTM award
[via The Peoples Person]

Along with Greenwood, the other standout performers were Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire. Luke Shaw continued his run of form which is turning this into his most productive season since his arrival from Southampton. Manchester United fans are seeing the Luke Shaw they wanted to see and he only is "entering his prime". The whole Manchester United backline stood strong to West Ham's aerial and counter-attacking threat and thereby making sure that Dean Henderson had his third clean sheet in a row in the premier league. Maguire played a huge role in dealing with The Hammer's attack and put in a captain's performance, deserving a MOTM award himself.

Matic has been uncharacteristically faulty in his passing as of late
[via Republik of Mancunia]

We have a lot of positives to take from this 1-0 win against a strong and well-drilled West Ham side. The rise of Mason Greenwood to a more complete player is one of the biggest takes. How well United hang on to the lead without cracking up as we used to in the earlier games is also a plus point to Ole’s men. The team will now face AC Milan in the Europa knockout in full spirit as we expect key injury returnees for both the clubs.