Manchester United were held at home for the fourth consecutive time in the Premier League as visitors West Ham United forced a frustrating 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.
Diafra Sakho put the Hammers ahead in less than two minutes, meeting Dimitri Payet’s free-kick, but the Reds responded midway through the first half thanks to a Zlatan Ibrahimovic header. Jose Mourinho’s men pushed had for the winner, but were repeatedly thwarted by the visitors’ goalkeeper Darren Randolph.
Mourinho shuffled his pack following the impressive midweek win over Feyenoord with a total of six changes. The likes of David De Gea and Ander Herrera were restored to the starting XI, but Bastian Schweinsteiger was the surprise name on the United substitutes’ bench. The German had not featured in the Reds’ match squad since coming on in the Manchester derby victory back on 20 March when Rashford grabbed the headlines with the decisive goal.
United knew there was a psychological advantage to be gained against the Hammers with an EFL Cup quarter-final tie to come against the same opposition on Wednesday, but it was a nightmare start for the Reds as the visitors took the lead in just the second minute.
Before today, Payet had created a league-high 43 goalscoring chances in the Premier League with only four of those chances being converted, but it was soon to be five. After Lingard brought down Payet, his wicked in-swinging free kick was met by Sakho, who muscled past Ibrahimovic, to power a header past De Gea.
United were back on level terms with the first clear chance to equalise. Paul Pogba’s delightfully clipped ball over the top found Ibrahimovic who nodded past Randolph with conviction.
Mourinho was then sent to the stands after he reacted furiously to referee Jonathon Moss’ decision to book Pogba for an apparent dive, but that only seemed to lift United who responded and should really have gone into the break ahead.
