Jose Mourinho watched with joy as Manchester United stayed in touch with the top four thanks to a 2-0 win at West Ham in a Premier League clash at the London Stadium today.
United were handed a boost from controversial referee Mike Dean when he sent off Sofiane Feghouli after a challenge on Phil Jones on 15 minutes — a tackle that looked to merit only a yellow card but was adjudged by the official to be of deserving of a red card.
It was a big setback for the Hammers hut the visitors had to wait until after the break to take the lead when substitute Juan Mata swept home a pass from another sub, Marcus Rashford.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic made it 2-0 after 78 minutes from an offside position but the goal was allowed to stand and United had their seventh successive win in the bag.
The Red Devils manager believes his charges were under par for the game against Slaven Bilic’s side and says the two subs made the difference.
And he added that the decision to send off West Ham’s Feghouli and the fact that Ibrahimovic’s goal should have been ruled out is a case of United getting some luck with decisions at last.
Mourinho said:
“We didn’t play well. Mata and Rashford won the game for us. If you speak about the decisions, Manchester United are the champions of wrong decisions.”
Meanwhile, United’s Michael Carrick agreed that Rashord being introduced to the action was crucial.
He said:
“Rashford coming on made a big difference because they’ve been defending all game and he exploited their tiredness.”
United are now sixth in the table on the same points tally, 39, as Tottenham, who are in fifth spot and face Chelsea on Wednesday to make up their game in hand.
Mourinho’s men now take a break from league action and look forward to hosting Reading, from the Championship and managed by former United defender Jaap Stam, in the third round of the FA Cup Old Trafford on Saturday, January 7.