Man Utd 2-1 West Ham: Paul Pogba scores two penalties for a hard win

Manchester United needed two penalties for Paul Pogba to return to victory with a hard win over West Ham at Old Trafford.

The Frenchman converted after Robert Snodgrbad made a mistake on Juan Mata in the first half and when Ryan Fredericks dropped Anthony Martial in the 80th minute.

But West Ham was the best camp for much of the fight.

They should have taken the lead in the ninth minute when Felipe Anderson's efforts were wrongly dismissed, before the Brazilian just balked shortly after half-time converting Manuel Lanzini's center to second place. post.

With a score of 1-1, Michail Antonio crushed a shot from the edge of the crossbar's penalty area and saved his head very well by David de Gea.

The win allows United, who lost their last two games, to move up to fifth, two points behind fourth-place Chelsea, who will face Liverpool on Sunday.

Fortune favors Man Utd in a major victory

While the rematch of its Champions League quarter-final against Barcelona will take place Tuesday, United's coach, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, made five changes to his team and, for most of the match, they have run out of fluidity. .

The hosts were fortunate not to be left behind early in the match when Diogo Dalot played against Anderson and there had been discussions around the awarding of United's first penalty.

Snodgrbad rushed to prevent Mata from pulling from the edge of the penalty area and did not touch the ball with his challenge. But one could argue that his challenge was more shoulder to shoulder than the back of his opponent.

West Ham was the better side of the first period and overcame a good spell from United after the introduction of Marcus Rashford, to forget the second.

If Antonio had rejected any of his chances, which had happened to him in the minutes following his expulsion from the substitutes' bench, few people would have argued that the Hammers had not deserved to lead.

But there was little doubt about United's second penalty, when Martial found himself behind the defense and that Fredericks shot him down while he was trying to stalemate on the French.

Pogba is calmly converted, as he had done with the first, to make sure that United wins for the second time only in his last six games.

With Barcelona coming Tuesday and the Premier League matches against Everton, Manchester City and Chelsea to follow, this could prove to be a major victory in the race for the top four.

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