Premier League: Man Utd boss Mourinho won’t celebrate second

West Ham 0 Manchester United 0 Premier League Noble Pogba

A bust-up between West Ham’s Mark Noble and Man Utd’s Paul Pogba was the only notable moment

(Image credit: Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images)

published 11 May 2018

West Ham United 0 Manchester United 0

There have been many fantastic football matches in this season’s Premier League but last night’s goalless draw between West Ham and Manchester United at the London Stadium wasn’t one of them.

Premier League transfer news: Paul Pogba, Sergio Aguero, Ryan Sessegnon

Had it not been for the bust-up between Paul Pogba and Mark Noble three minutes from time there would have been precious little to talk about in the post-match press conference. But the fact that Noble grabbed the face of the United midfielder after an intentional trip created a moment of drama in an otherwise tedious evening.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

As Noble and Pogba grappled, other players joined the fray, including West Ham striker Andy Carroll and Man Utd defender Luke Shaw. The Sun predicts they could “get in bother with the FA as ref Jon Moss did not punish them on the night”.

Why Moss didn’t send Noble off for clawing at Pogba’s face is anyone’s guess, although perhaps the official’s judgement had been impaired by the mind-numbingly awful football he’d endured.

United manager Jose Mourinho thought the referee got it right on the night, telling reporters: “It was handled well. I was watching the images and Paul and Noble looked in love. Hugs and kisses and changing shirts at full-time. It was good.”

Which is more than one can say for the quality of the football in east London. With the Hammers having ensured their Premier League survival last week, and United with little to play for other than the glory of finishing second behind runaway leaders Manchester City, there was scant motivation for the pair.

As it was, the point was all United required to make sure they would finish above Tottenham, the only club capable of catching them before last night. But with City 19 points ahead of United there was no sense of elation at the final whistle from the Red Devils.

“OK,” replied Mourinho, when asked what it felt like to be runners-up. “We don’t celebrate second position but we are happy because for a few months we realised it was impossible to win the league and, of course, the target is the second position.”

On the plus side, with one match still to play, United have nine more points than they accumulated last season. Second spot is the highest they’ve finished since winning the title in 2012-13.

“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,” said Mourinho. “It’s better to finish second than fourth.”

Premier League fixtures

The final day of the Premier League season is on Sunday. Matches kick off at 3pm.