Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits that his side “got away with it” after two penalties from Paul Pogba helped see off West Ham’s fightback at Old Trafford on Saturday.
United moved within two points of the top four but those in attendance will know how fortunate Solskjaer’s side were to have secured a point, never mind three.
Felipe Anderson's early opener was wrongly ruled out for offside.
But the Brazilian cancelled out Pogba's contentious penalty - Robert Snodgrass' foul on Juan Mata was outside the box - shortly after half time as the Hammers capitalised on David de Gea’s poor throw.
The United goalkeeper made amends as Manuel Pellegrini’s men pushed for a winner, producing an outstanding one-handed save from Michail Antonio shortly after the West Ham substitute rattled the goal frame.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Solskjaer. Photo: Phil Noble/Reuters.
Yet the visitors returned empty-handed after Pogba smashed home his second spot-kick to keep up United’s top-four charge on an evening when the performance will have alarmed Solskjaer.
He says: “We got away with it. It is not easy because we played on Wednesday [1-0 defeat by Barcelona] and we made a few changes. They deserved their goals but we are allowed to have a good keeper.
“Of course, we have a game on Tuesday night too [return leg in Barcelona] which may have played on the player’s minds, but I’m not sure why we played last Wednesday and then we play next Tuesday.
“That is my little complaint to Uefa.”