It doesn’t Mata as United sink 10-man West Ham

Juan Mata celebrates scoring against West Ham on January 2, 2016. PHOTO/Football 365

Manchester United battled to a sixth Premier League win in succession as they defeated 10-man West Ham United 2-0 following the controversial first-half dismissal of Sofiane Feghouli.

West Ham’s hopes of success suffered a major setback in the 15th minute when referee Mike Dean deemed Feghouli’s challenge on Phil Jones worthy of a straight red card.

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United struggled to find a way through against the 10 men but came remarkably close on 35 minutes when Antonio Valencia forced a superb save from Darren Randolph before Jesse Lingard hit the post from point-blank range on the follow-up.

David De Gea also had to be sharp to keep West Ham at bay, with Manuel Lanzini and Michail Antonio testing the United keeper in either half, but the visitors finally broke through when Marcus Rashford set up fellow substitute Juan Mata to fire home from close range on 63 minutes.

On 78 minutes, Zlatan Ibrahimovic doubled United’s lead despite appearing to be in an offside position.