Manchester United has qualified for the quarterfinal stage of the FA Cup after a 2-0 victory over East London side, West Ham United at Old Trafford.
Scott McTominay found the back of the net in the first half of extra time to give the Red Devils a hard-fought victory.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side needed to respond to the disappointing result over the weekend where they threw a 2-goal lead against Everton in the Premier League and the Manchester United manager believed his team did that saying, “We needed to have a good result and a good feeling today because we were low after the Everton game.”
“That was hard to take but they were really focused and did the job.”, Solskjaer added.
Manchester United captain Harry Maguire also praised the team’s attitude saying, “Last Saturday was tough – especially in the second half. We showed great spirit and a good mentality to come back and perform. We know it’s a long season and tonight was perfect. It’s important to get through.”
The Red Devils were the better team in the first half as they dominated possession as West Ham sat in a low block to evade United’s attacks. Victor Lindelof came agonizingly close to opening the scoring as his header took a deflection off defender Craig Dawson and was sneaking into the left corner of goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski’s goal, only to be tipped by a wrong-footed Fabianski onto the outside of the post to somehow keep it out.
Lukasz Fabianski of West Ham saves a header from Victor Lindelof of Manchester United during The Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round match between Manchester United and West Ham United at Old Trafford. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
There was not much created by either of the teams after that. Dean Henderson had a very quiet game in Manchester United’s goal as West Ham did not seem to possess any threat up front with striker Michail Antonio out due to fatigue.
David Moyes’ side was very good defensively and well organised as they made it difficult for United to break them down. The Red Devils were also a little slower in their attack and did not look likely to score themselves till around the 72nd minute when United shuffled its pack by bringing on Bruno Fernandes and Scott McTominay for Donny van de Beek and Nemanja Matic, respectively.
The substitutions injected some energy into the side and United looked good again. They were creating more and with Bruno Fernandes on the ball, the Hammers players were always on their toes. United, however, failed to find the crucial winner in regulation time.
(L-R) Dean Henderson, Fred, Victor Lindelof and Edinson Cavani of Manchester United celebrate their win against West Ham United. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
The side did, however, finally break the deadlock in the 97th minute as they broke on the counter due to some terrific work by Luke Shaw who intercepted a pass as Fernandes, Martial, Rashford and Cavani poured forward to try and get the goal. Rashford’s lovely touch was pounced upon by McTominay who smashed a low-footed shot past Fabianski to take Man United through to the quarterfinals of the competition.
Manchester United joins Championship side Bournemouth who beat Premier League side Burnley 2-0 to be the 2nd team to qualify for the 6th round of the FA Cup.
Here are the remaining fixtures to be played in the 5th round of the competition.
- Swansea City vs Manchester City
- Leicester City vs Brighton and Hove Albion
- Sheffield United vs Bristol City
- Everton vs Tottenham
- Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Southampton
- Barnsley vs Chelsea
