New Jersey, July 27 (IANS) Manchester United made a winning start to the Premier League Summer Series, beating West Ham United 2-1 at the MetLife Stadium.
Bruno Fernandes scored both goals, a penalty early on and a second-half shot, to secure three points in the competition. Jarrod Bowen pulled one back for the Hammers, with a clinical finish, and was only denied an equaliser by a smart save from Altay Bayindir in the dying seconds.
United made a blistering start, coming out of the blocks, almost scoring in the opening minute. Fernandes’s through ball was perfectly placed for Rasmus Hojlund to race on to and the striker advanced towards goal and fired a left-footed shot that hit the outside of a post.
Three minutes later, Alphonse Areola fumbled a high ball against El Hadji Malick Diouf’s back and it fell to Ayden Heaven. The defender was going away from goal but was brought down by the Hammers keeper to concede an obvious penalty, Manchester United reports.
Amorim’s men continued to push forwards, with the Hojlund lashing over a decent chance, when the ball rebounded to him after his pass was cut out. On the half-hour mark, Fernandes struck a dipping shot over the bar from outside the box, following an Amad pass, with West Ham offering little, bar an acrobatic attempt by James Ward-Prowse that came to nothing, after ex-Red Wan Bissaka’s deep cross was nodded back by Tomas Soucek.
United did find the net again, in the 38th minute, when the excellent Manuel Ugarte burst through to set up Amad but the Ivory Coast international’s assured finish counted for nothing as he was frustratingly flagged offside in a marginal call.
Amorim’s side maintained the pressure after the interval and, within four minutes of the restart, Kilman was hassled out of possession by Hojlund, with Fernandes bursting clear to face Areola in a one-on-one situation. Unfortunately, the skipper failed to provide a clean strike and it was too close to the keeper, who saved, with Kobbie Mainoo then having an effort deflect for a corner.
From the set-piece, Matthijs de Ligt’s header was clawed away well by Areola, from Fernandes’s hooked ball into the box. A couple of minutes later, with 52 on the clock, Mainoo pounced on a stray pass out by Areola. Fernandes collected a pass and floated a quite beautiful finish, taking advantage of Areola being a little out of position with unerring accuracy and precision.
The east Londoners pulled one back, on 63 minutes, thanks to a thumping drive by Bowen. Jean-Clair Todibo fed Soucek, who picked out the England international and it was a clinical move that reduced the arrears.
Amorim changed every outfield player in the 66th minute and, as the Hammers also made a number of substitutions, it all became a little disjointed. However, with six minutes of normal time remaining, Luis Guilherme let rip with a ferocious drive that, thankfully, cleared Bayindir’s bar.
There was one other big chance, in injury time, when Bowen again fired goalwards, only for Bayindir to pull off a tremendous save to preserve the lead and three points, ahead of our next outing against Bournemouth, who beat Everton 3-0 earlier.
