The blushes may have been spared for Ruben Amorim’s side against Crystal Palace last time out but in this clash, against West Ham United at Old Trafford, there was no chance of a comeback story as Soungoutou Magassa scored an 83rd-minute equaliser to snatch a point against Manchester United.
Having looked the much stronger side for the majority of this fixture, Amorim’s men will be disappointed with this draw that will ultimately feel like a loss – singularly because Diogo Dalot earned the hosts a merited opener on 58 minutes.
A slick yet fortunate cross inside found the defender from 10 yards as the he put the hosts ahead to send Old Trafford into elation, not least because they were on-course to climb to fifth place in the Premier League title.
But not on West Ham’s watch, anyway, as Masagga struck late in the game to defy all odds up to that point with a rebounded goal that sunk Man United back down to eighth place on 22 points – though five points separates 14th and fourth.
Story of the Match
For large parts of the opening half at Old Trafford, wastefulness and extravagance stole the show before an endmost resurgence saw shots flying at Alphonse Areola’s goal from all angles.
It had all started after Matheus Fernandes had a promising shot blocked on the edge of the penalty area early on, a play that inevitably motivated the home side to kickstart an onslaught.
On 25 minutes, Bryan Mbeumo played a one-two from a corner and tried to whip a shop into the far corner from the right-hand side before Areola tipped the threat over the bar.
Three minutes later the Red Devils were there again: this time with Amad Diallo, whose cross was guided towards the top-left corner by Joshua Zirkzee – and would have gone in if Aaron Wan-Bissaka didn’t clear heroically off the line.
Dalot thought he had fired Manchester United into fifth place in the Premier League table (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
The crosses were constant and progressively intense, with Dalot tip-toeing at the back post but coming up too short to another superb delivery from Diallo, who you would think will be heavily missed when he departs for AFCON on December 15.
As the clock aged in the first period, the pressure from Amorim’s side was unremitting and perhaps worthy of a goal, but the lethal blow to an otherwise motivated West Ham side didn’t come until just before the hour when Dalot fired the hosts ahead.
Amad started with the ball on the right before releasing it to Casemiro to his left, an immediate cross followed that, with some fortune, took a touch off West Ham attacker Fernandes and landed to Dalot’s feet inside the penalty area.
As it turns out, with several shirts inside the box, West Ham still couldn’t stop the Man United defender from lashing the ball into the bottom left corner from close range following a touch that merited such a goal, as Amorim’s side were finally on course to enter the top five of the Premier League.
Even after gaining an advantage, though, the hosts still appeared up for it and after 73 minutes, Mbeumo was seen driving towards goal with close competition from Jean-Clair Todibo.
West Ham's leveller summed up a frustrating night for the hosts (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Nevertheless, the Man United attacker sought to take the defender on and did so as the pair entered the penalty area; a slick cut inside gave Todibo no other choice but to stick his right leg out to distract Mbeumo, which resulted in him going down as appeals rang around Old Trafford.
After Cunha fired the loose ball over the bar, multiple red shirts surrounded referee Andrew Kitchen in an attempt to win over the decision, but television replays showed that no foul was committed.
There were still 17 minutes to be played, disregarding injury time, and West Ham started to get themselves into the game with – mirroring the first five minutes of this clash – a lot of chanceless football but football nonetheless around the hosts’ box.
And even though Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are ranked 20th in the English top-flight for goals from set-pieces, they finally managed to conjure one that rescued them a point, and one that narrowed the gap from safety to just two points.
A low cross yet direct cross inside was flicked on from Jarrod Bowen at the front post before Noussair Mazraoui handled the speeding ball by clearing it off the line – only for it to fall into the path of Magassa, who slotted the leveller into the same corner where the ball was initially averted.