Manchester United recorded their sixth consecutive Premier League win in controversial circumstances, with second-half goals from Juan Mata and Zlatan Ibrahimovic giving them a 2-0 win over a ten-man West Ham.

It was certainly an eventful first period, with excellent chances from Manuel Lanzini, Antonio Valencia and Jesse Lingard. However the dismissal of Sofiane Feghouli 15 minutes in proved to be the talking point.

Slaven Bilic's side had a catalog of excellent opportunities with Lanzini going close, before Mata opened the scoring in the 62nd minute. Substitute Marcus Rashford came close but it was Ibrahimovic who secured the points in the 77th minute.

A wrongful dismissal

This was the third meeting between the two sides in the current campaign with both sides looking to start 2017 with three points, and it was Bilic's side that started the brighter.

They came very close in the 11th minute when Payet laid the ball to Lanzini. The Argentine was left in acres of space before trying one from 20 yards, but David De Gea was there to tip it away.

The game's big talking point arrived in the 15th minute, when the home side were reduced to ten men in somewhat debatable circumstances.

A heavy touch from Feghouli saw him fly into the tackle with Phil Jones, who was just as committed to the tackle as his Algerian counterpart. However that didn't seem to be the way Mike Dean saw it, as after some consideration he gave the winger his marching orders.

Getting into the contest

From that point the visitors started to get into the contest, and they couldn't have come any closer to taking the lead than in the 35th minute.

Hernikh Mkhitaryan did brilliantly down the left before playing the ball across goal for Valencia, but his effort was brilliantly stopped on the line by Darren Randolph. Lingard was quickly there to snatch up the opportunity, but the youngster's effort clattered the post and across the line before been pounced upon by Randolph.

The final chance of the half fell to the home side, when Lanzini picked the ball up on the edge of the area before curling one for the far corner. But De Gea was there once again to turn his effort wide.

Wasting an opportunity

Bilic's side started the second period as they had the first, and should have found themselves ahead just after the hour mark. It was sloppy from Marcos Rojo which allowed Lanzini to break through, he played into Michail Antonio but the effort was well saved by the body of De Gea.

They were made to regret their wasted opportunity as United opened the scoring just seconds later. It was excellent from Rashford as he broke down the wing. He laid it off for Mata in the area, and the Spaniard did well to place the ball in the far corner.

All over

The visitors began to turn the screw as the clocked ticked down, as they looked to make he three points a certainty.

Randolph almost made sure of it with a clamatous error in the 78th minute. The goalkeeper spilled a tame effort from Rashford, which went behind him, hit the post, come off his back and rolled across the line but he managed to hold on.

The Irishman could do nothing to prevent the Red Devils securing the win just moments later. It was poor from Angelo Ogbonna as his clearance deflected off Ander Herrera into the path of Ibrahimovic. The Swede was offside but the play went on, as he smashed it into the bottom corner.

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.