Midfielder nets first PL goal to cancel out Dalot’s opener in 1-1 draw at Old Trafford
Soungoutou Magassa’s first goal for West Ham United salvaged a point in a 1-1 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday.
Ruben Amorim’s side looked set to get back to winning ways at home after Diogo Dalot opened the scoring with his first Premier League goal at Old Trafford shortly before the hour mark.
United had chances throughout, with Joshua Zirkzee seeing an effort cleared off the line before Bruno Fernandes hit a post in the first half.
But West Ham profited from a set-piece late on, thanks to Magassa’s composed finish, to ensure they did not leave Manchester empty-handed.
United missed the chance to move up to fifth, but they did leapfrog Liverpool to go eighth. West Ham, meanwhile, remain 18th, two points behind Leeds United above them.
How the match unfolded
West Ham started brightly but only had a sliced, off-target El Hadji Malick Diouf effort to show for their early pressure after he was left unmarked on a corner.
Bryan Mbeumo saw a dipping curler tipped over the crossbar by Alphonse Areola before Zirkzee’s instinctive finish was cleared off the line by Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Fernandes’ volley on the rebound then scraped the left post on its way wide.
At the other end, Jarrod Bowen provided a threat on the counter-attack. He skipped past several challenges down the right, only for his tame shot to deflect off Luke Shaw and into Senne Lammens’ gloves.
In the 58th minute, United found the breakthrough. Casemiro was rushed into a shot on the edge of the box, but it deflected to Dalot, who took a touch before poking his effort into the bottom-left corner.
But the hosts failed to add to their tally, and they were punished for it when an unmarked Magassa slotted in after Noussair Mazraoui had cleared Bowen’s flick-on off the line from a corner seven minutes from time.
United stumble again at Old Trafford
After their loss to 10-man Everton last time out at Old Trafford, the home faithful were left frustrated at full-time again as United missed a chance to push themselves up the table.
Hoping to build on their win at Crystal Palace, United made a slow start, but they defended their box well as West Ham failed to make the most of their early set-pieces.
They came to life midway through the first half, but former Red Devil Wan-Bissaka then denied a sure goal after Zirkzee flicked on Amad Diallo’s low delivery just before the half-hour mark.
As they did against Everton, United continued to build their shot count without testing Areola too often, though Dalot got the telling touch when it mattered with his composed finish.
The likes of Fernandes, the returning Matheus Cunha and Casemiro continued to try their luck in front of goal but could not find their range as West Ham put bodies on the line to stay in the game before breaching United’s defence from a corner.
Deep into stoppage time, Fernandes latched on to a loose backpass for the home side, only to volley it wide on the spin.
Although United have only lost one of their last eight matches, they will be hoping to get back to winning ways against bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers a week on Monday.
West Ham show fighting spirit
The Hammers have typically had the better of meetings with United in recent years, and they started the better side, pushing their hosts deep without creating anything of real note.
Bowen saw an early strike charged down, with Jean-Clair Todibo also having an effort blocked, but Callum Wilson struggled to find a foothold.
West Ham captain Bowen continued to pull the strings after the break as they searched for an opening, and he split United’s defence with a lovely through-ball to Magassa, who could only find the side netting with his long-range effort.
Going behind seemed to spark some life into the visitors, though.
They found the confidence to push upfield again, but initially found it hard to make inroads despite Bowen being afforded a lot of space as he drifted out into the wide areas.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side largely missed the spark that Crysencio Summerville and the suspended Lucas Paqueta could add, but with Bowen’s influence, they could not be counted out and found their equaliser.
West Ham’s only win on the road this season came against Nuno, when he was at Nottingham Forest, and while his wait for a first away win goes on, he can take positives from this result when they travel to Brighton & Hove Albion at the weekend.
Club reports
Man Utd report | West Ham report
Next PL fixturesKey facts
Bruno Fernandes made his 205th Premier League start this evening, equalling Nemanja Vidic’s total for Manchester United (205). Only two non-British or Irish outfielders have now made more starts for the Red Devils in the competition: Patrice Evra (265) and Mikael Silvestre (225).
Soungoutou Magassa became the 179th different player to score a Premier League goal for West Ham (excluding own goals), with no side having more different goalscorers in the competition’s history (level with Spurs).
Since the start of last season, only tonight’s opponents West Ham (17) have conceded more Premier League goals from corners than Man Utd (15).