Manchester United wasted an abundance of opportunities as they were dramatically defeated 2-1 by West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
Erik ten Hag made three changes to his starting line up for the match from the side that drew with Fenerbahce in midweek, with Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro and Rasmus Hojlund coming in for Victor Lindelof, Manuel Ugarte and Joshua Zirkzee.
United enjoyed the better of the early chances, with Alejandro Garnacho firing an effort off the crossbar and placing a shot wide of the far-post within the opening ten minutes of the contest, while Hojlund also fired straight at Lukasz Fabianski and Fernandes wasted a glorious headed opportunity in the space of a minute.
The worst miss of the match, and possible the season, was to follow, as Diogo Dalot latched onto a long ball and knocked it past the onrushing West Ham goalkeeper, only to fire wide when faced with an open goal from a few yards out.
United went close again before half-time as West Ham defender Edson Alvarez headed against his own crossbar from a corner and Fabisanki produced a superb stop to deny a Casemiro header, but there was still no way through for Ten Hag’s side despite their dominance.
West Ham were improved after the restart but once again it was United who had the better chances as Garnacho volleyed into the side-netting from a Marcus Rashford cross and Hojlund saw a decent effort saved by Fabianksi.
United would pay the price for their plethora of wasted chances though, as half-time substitute Crysencio Summerville put his side ahead when he met a loose ball at the back-post following some woeful defending.
The lead didn’t last long though, and United soon found themselves level when Casemiro headed in at the back-post after substitute Joshua Zirkzee had glanced a header towards the back-post.
In the world of United, there is always drama though. In the final minute of added time West Ham were awarded a controversial penalty when De Ligt was adjudged to have fouled Danny Ings in the penalty box, with the spot-kick awarded after a lengthy VAR check.
West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen made no mistakes from the penalty spot as he fired into the bottom corner of the net to condemn United to their most frustrating defeat of the season and pile more pressure on manager Ten Hag.
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