Manchester United secure second place with West Ham draw

127

Manchester United secured the point they needed to finish second in the Premier League with a dull 0-0 draw at West Ham United on Thursday.

There were few chances in a tepid first half, though Alexis Sanchez forced a good save from West Ham keeper Adrian.

Marko Arnautovic looked the most likely West Ham player to make a breakthrough.

Paul Pogba curled a couple of shots narrowly wide for Manchester United.

The France midfielder was booked in the dying stages for kicking out at West Ham’s Mark Noble, who was also shown a yellow card as tempers frayed.

Manchester United, 19 points behind champions Manchester City, moved four points clear of third-placed Tottenham Hotspur with one league game left.

They will play Chelsea in the FA Cup final on May 19.

West Ham are 15th in the table.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho was pleased to secure second place.

“We are the second best team in the Premier League, a fantastic competition with lots of good teams with six teams trying to finish first,” he told the BBC.

“We came second, I am not totally happy that is not my nature. But since the moment we felt it was impossible to finish first we had the target to finish second and it is done today.

“I am not critical of the performance at all. In the 80th minute we know that a point was enough so we start thinking about that and we let the game go.”

West Ham manager David Moyes was happy to draw with his former club.

“A good point for us,” he said. “Our boys showed a great attitude after getting safe at the weekend.

“We have conceded a lot of goals this season so a clean sheet is great. We have done the job we came to do – we are not relegated.”