(Football news) While the Irons and Bournemouth played out a much more subdued 1-1 draw, Erik ten Hag’s team triumphed 4-3 in a wild match against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the middle of the week.
If the script was followed in the first half of Manchester United’s match at Molineux against Wolves—where Marcus Rashford, who was brought back into the game, broke the deadlock in just five minutes—Gary O’Neil’s team tore up the script as the game went on, seemingly saving a point from certain defeat.
Pablo Sarabia, Max Kilman and Pedro Neto – netting deep into injury time – has responded to efforts from Rashford, Rasmus Hojlund and Scott McTominay, but just a couple of moments after Neto’s late leveller sent Molineux into pandemonium, Manchester United protege Kobbie Mainoo justified the ongoing hype with a spectacular solo effort.
Weaving his way through a sea of orange shirts, opening up his body and curling into the bottom corner with aplomb, the 18-year-old continued his rise to prominence with the goal that consolidated Man United’s hold on seventh place in the Premier League table, as crestfallen Wolves players dropped to their knees.
Amid the warranted praise for Mainoo, Manchester United were very nearly left to bemoan another dissatisfactory defensive display, one which saw them become just the second Premier League team to ship 50 goals in all tournaments this season, alongside relegation favourites Sheffield United.
Seven of those strikes have come in their last three Premier League home matches versus Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Bournemouth, but by successfully fighting fire with fire once again at Molineux, Manchester United enter the weekend with three wins and a draw to show from their last four games in all tournaments.
While the on-field activity dominated West Midlands headlines on Thursday evening, transfer talk took precedence during West Ham’s underwhelming draw with Bournemouth, where Irons new boy Kalvin Phillips could hardly have started his Hammers career in worse fashion.
With just three minutes gone, the Manchester City loanee’s howler presented Dominic Solanke with his 13th goal of the Premier League season, but just past the hour mark, James Ward-Prowse did what he does best from dead-ball situations, converting the penalty which rescued a point for the Europa Conference League holders.
The Irons’ hard-fought draw keeps them one place and one point better off than Man United in sixth spot, despite now failing to triumph in any of their last five matches in all tournaments, but Thursday’s result soon paled into insignificance as details of Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals’s botched transfers came to light.
Late paperwork calamities – which are supposedly being investigated by FIFA – prevented Lyon-bound Benrahma and Real Betis target Fornals from completing their anticipated exits, but the latter’s departure has now gone through, and Lyon are still working to bring Benrahma to France past the deadline.
A six-game unbeaten run in the top flight is nothing to be scoffed at, though, and West Ham deservedly beat a meet Manchester United 2-0 at the London Stadium on December 23, but they have been condemned to a 1-0 defeat in each of their last three league visits to the Theatre of Dreams.
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