Manchester United vs West Ham result: Five things we learned as draw benefits both teams at Old Trafford

Manchester United had to come from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at home to West Ham United in the Premier League on Wednesday evening.

The opening goal came right on the stroke of half-time, as Paul Pogba handled a shot at goal and Michail Antonio rolled home the penalty.

Five minutes after the break, though, United were level after a nice exchange between Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood saw the latter smash into the bottom corner.

Declan Rice went closest to a winner for the Hammers and Odion Ighalo stabbed wide late on for United, but neither team had the clinical edge to find a winner.

Here are five things we learned from the match at Old Trafford.

One point won, but West Ham also won something more valuable on Wednesday night: Premier League safety.

They were already all-but safe, thanks to a superior goal difference, but this result confirms their status as a top-flight team regardless of what madness goes on below them on the final day.

In truth, a draw from the game is the minimum West Ham deserved; they were more incisive with their passing, had more players approaching top form and had long stretches where they dominated possession.

A display of how good West Ham were can be seen in the fact that Bruno Fernandes had his poorest game for the club, with little on-the-ball impact and the attacking midfielder getting more frustrated as the game went on, being perhaps lucky to avoid a red card, too.

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A good run of form for United was ended by the weak FA Cup semi-final submission to Chelsea, so Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would have been hoping for a big reaction here.

With all the big-name players restored, then, it was particularly disappointing to see the home side still struggle against the Hammers.

There was a lack of urgency, a lack of direction and intensity in the passing and very few clear sights of goal in the first half.

Solskjaer clearly sent his team out after the break with an instruction to up their tempo and it worked well to an extent, for a little while – but the fact they are still up-and-down against teams they should be beating shows there’s still a way to go before United really have a side which can challenge at the top again.

Consistency is key and, right now, this side remains some way off that level of performance.

There’s no doubt West Ham will have to do a fair amount of work in the summer transfer window if they want to avoid a similar battle in the bottom half next season.

Right-back is an area to address after two departures, while the centre of defence and other positions could do with attention too—but two deals made in January look set to benefit the Hammers for seasons to come.

Jarrod Bowen came in from Hull and, after a slow start, now really looks the part. He’s a good outlet, isn’t afraid to run at defenders and has goals in his game, too.

Another superb winter addition was Tomas Soucek; he’s only on loan from Slavia Prague, but David Moyes has already confirmed that the £13 million option will be taken up.

He runs the midfield for the Hammers, passing well, winning possession and protecting his defence—a top-class addition which gives the team a platform to build on.

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David de Gea had no shortage of critics taking aim at him after his Wembley horror show, but he was back between the sticks for the game against West Ham.

It’s important for the truly top players in the game to have an iron-clad mentality, to bounce back with a strong showing and not be unduly affected by errors and harsh words, and de Gea responded with an improved and reliable showing.

Similarly, Pogba was called “embarrassing” by Gary Neville for protecting his face with an arm and gifting West Ham their first-half penalty, and his response was to be involved in the build-up for United’s equaliser five minutes later.

Pogba wasn’t an all-game playmaker, as United didn’t really have the dominance of the game for that, but his availability, willingness to try and make things happen and his defensive positional work all showed that he acknowledged his error and was, in his own way, making up for it.

United went into the game knowing a point or better and they would be in the driving seat for the Champions League spots on the final day, where they will play top-four rivals Leicester City.

A 1-1 draw and the performance on the night were both far from impressive, but it was job done as far as that all-important spot goes.

It comes down to the last fixture; avoid defeat and the Champions League is back at Old Trafford.

But Soslkjaer will know that a much-improved display will be needed. Leicester haven’t been in great form themselves, but they did win last time out and it’s now all-or-nothing as far as they are concerned; there’s no need to hold anything back and they will simply play to win.

It’s in United’s hands, but the task remains a large, and uncertain, one.