West Ham-Man Utd talking points

Manchester United kicked off 2017 with a 2-0 win at West Ham – but there were controversial moments at the London Stadium.

Referee Mike Dean and his officials were in the limelight with a red-card call and an offside decision, while Juan Mata and Zlatan Ibrahimovic sealed the points after Sofiane Feghouli’s first-half dismissal. 

Here, we take a look at the talking points from the match…

Feghouli’s red card

There were just 15 minutes on the clock when the decisive moment came – although few were expecting referee Dean to dismiss Feghouli for his challenge on Phil Jones after the West Ham man over-ran the ball and leapt to beat Jones to it.

The visiting defender won the race and Dean’s response was to brandish a straight red – the fastest issued in the Premier League this season.

West Ham boss Slaven Bilic was adamant after the game that the referee had made the wrong call. “It was not a red card,” he told Sky Sports. “It was a challenge from both of them. It killed us. It – along with the other one [the offside goal] – was totally, totally unfair to us and totally wrong.”

Jose Mourinho refused to comment but Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said it was clear Manchester United had profited from the call. “Bilic, I’m sure, will be furious,” he said. “Nobody thought it was going to be a red card. It’s not been a good day for the officials and Manchester United have benefited from that today.”

Zlatan’s offside goal

To make matters worse for West Ham, the visitors were able to wrap up the points by scoring a second from an offside position. …

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