West Ham vs Manchester United match report: Juan Mata and Zlatan Ibrahimovic strike as visitors close in on top four

West Ham United 0 Manchester United 2: This was the visitors' sixth straight victory but came about in controversial circumstances following Sofiane Feghouli's early dismissal

Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates after scoring United's second (Getty)

There are still some things that Jose Mourinho does better than anyone else, and this Manchester United team is starting to bear his unique mark. This was United’s sixth league win in a row, their best run for nearly two years, a run that makes them look like a serious side again.

This win was ugly, lucky and dull, but it was an away game in the bitter cold just 48 hours after a draining turnaround win at Old Trafford. This is not the time of year for performances, this is the time of year for points.

United were the fortunate beneficiaries of Mike Dean sending off Sofiane Feghouli after just 15 minutes, ending West Ham’s attacking ambitions, and then of the curious decision to allow a blatantly offside second goal by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Even Mourinho admitted afterwards that United did not play well, and this was a far less convincing performance than any of the five straight wins that preceded it. But United found a way to win, with the additions of Juan Mata at half-time and Marcus Rashford soon after. The opening goal, which killed the game, came when Rashford broke into the box and pulled the ball back to Mata. This match between two tired teams was always going to be won by the side that scored first.

Feghouli walks off the pitch after being dismissed (Getty) (Reuters)

We will never know whether this would have been an engaging game with 22 players on the pitch, but the odds were against it. There were tiny flickers of promise in the opening 15 minutes, with one West Ham counter-attack ending with Manuel Lanzini forcing a David De Gea save from the edge of the box.

But that prospect was snuffed out by Mike Dean after a quarter of an hour when he sent off Sofiane Feghouli. This was the Algerian international’s first Premier League start and he was over-enthusiastic, trying to take the ball forward but over-running it. So Feghouli reached for the ball with both feet, clattering into Phil Jones, himself over-reaching for the loose ball. It was a 50-50 situation but Jones pained reaction made Feghouli’s tackle look far worse than it was. Dean brought the red card straight out, a decision that looked worse with every replay.

What made the decision even more surprising was the fact that early in the second half Cheikhou Kouyate committed a worse foul on Henrikh Mkhitaryan, with two feet over the ball and into his ankle, which Dean did not punish in the same way.

Lanzini in action for the Hammers (Getty) (West Ham United via Getty Images)

But the red card that Dean did give ended any prospect of West Ham coming out to play. The remaining 75 minutes of the match was essentially attack against defence. West Ham have tightened up defensively in the last month and even playing their 4-4-1 they dug in effectively. United are not gifted lock-pickers and despite dominating possession throughout the first half they struggled to find a way through.

There was one real chance, although it was a glaringly good one. Ibrahimovic crossed to Henrikh Mkhitaryan at the far post, whose shot was three-quarters of the way over the line before Darren Randolph clawed it away. The ball fell to the feet of Jesse Lingard, five yards from goal, but he could not react in time. The ball hit him, hit the post, and returned to a grateful Randolph.

Clearly United needed more quality and more pace on the pitch. Mourinho solved the first of those problems by bringing Juan Mata on for Matteo Darmian at half-time, moving Michael Carrick to centre-back and Marcos Rojo out to left-back. That was an improvement although United remained too static, and the defensive changes affected their balance.

Michail Antonio, running himself into the ground up front, had two excellent chances to put West Ham 1-0 up. First he met Dimitri Payet’s free-kick from the right with a skimming header that flew just wide. Then he ran on to Manuel Lanzini’s pass, clean through on goal, only to shoot straight at De Gea.

Those were West Ham’s only real chances to go ahead, and as soon as they passed, they were punished. Mourinho knew that his team needed more movement up front so he replaced the ineffective Lingard with Marcus Rashford, whose first real action was to set up the crucial opening goal.

Pedro Obiang and Zlatan Ibrahimovic wrestle for the ball (Getty)

Rashford ran down the left with all his natural grace and pulled a pass back to Mata, lurking in space in the middle of the box. Mata has scored plenty of goals like this for United, and he swept the ball with perfect timing into the net.

West Ham were never going to equalise and the only question was whether United would score a second. Pogba fizzed two shots just wide from distance and Rashford, who had turned the game, nearly squeezed a first-timer in between Randolph and near post.

When the second finally came it was thanks to farcical officiating somehow even worse than the early Feghouli red card. Pedro Obiang cleared a ball into Ander Herrera and it flew back towards West Ham’s goal towards three offside United players. One of them, Pogba, shielded it for another, Ibrahimovic, to shoot past Randolph. Ibrahimovic knew he was offside, but assistant referee Simon Long did not. The goal stood and the match was over.

Manchester United (4-2-3-1) De Gea; Valencia, Jones, Rojo, Darmian (Mata, 45); Carrick, Herrera; Lingard (Rashford, 59), Pogba, Mkhitaryan (Smalling, 65); Ibrahimovic

West Ham United (4-2-3-1) Randolph; Nordtveidt, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Kouyate (Fernandes, 82), Obiang; Feghouli, Lanzini (Ayew, 89), Payet (Carroll, 69); Antonio

MoM : Rashford

Match rating: 3