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West Ham 0-2 Man Utd: Talking points from the London Stadium

Zlatan Ibrahimovic walks out prior to kick off at the London Stadium
Image: Man Utd's Zlatan Ibrahimovic was on the scoresheet against West Ham

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...

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Watch highlights of West Ham 0-2 Man Utd

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.

Sofiane Feghouli makes a challenge on Phil Jones resulting in his sending off
Image: Sofiane Feghouli was sent off for this challenge on Phil Jones

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."

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Dean's red cards

Referee Mike Dean has shown 14 red cards in the Premier League since the start of last season - at least six more than any other referee.

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. Striker Ibrahimovic was clearly ahead of the home team's defence with 12 minutes to play but there was no flag and he gladly lashed the ball home.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic puts Manchester United 2-0 up
Image: Zlatan Ibrahimovic scores from an offside position

"The linesman should really see that," said Niall Quinn in the Sky Sports studio, while Bilic described the incident as a "big offside".

For the Swedish frontman, though, it was an 18th goal of the season across all competitions, meaning he has already scored more than Manchester United's top scorer last season, Anthony Martial, who netted 17 times.

"Not many can finish like that," said an impressed Alan Smith on Sky Sports.

Rashford and Mata make an impact  

Despite Feghouli being sent off just 15 minutes into the contest, Manchester United went in at the break having recorded just one shot on target. In response, Mourinho changed Matteo Darmian for Juan Mata and, shortly after the re-start, replaced Jesse Lingard with Marcus Rashford. It was a double change which paid dividends.

Juan Mata celebrates after giving Manchester United a 1-0 lead
Image: Juan Mata celebrates after giving Manchester United a 1-0 lead

The pair added pace and cutting edge to the visitors' play and combined superbly for the opener, with Rashford darting down the left flank before cutting back for Mata to swipe home.

"They stretched West Ham, made them work a little bit differently and that meant there was more space for them to go and put an influence on the game," said Quinn. "They did it with zest and great pace.

"Suddenly the pitch looks much bigger and the West Ham players aren't able to snuff out chances.

Mata magic

Juan Mata has been involved in 40 Premier League goals (25 goals, 15 assists) since debuting for Manchester United; second only to Wayne Rooney in that time (46 - 29 goals, 17 assists).

"Rashford's pace is electrifying and for the goal he doesn't panic, looks at the options and knocks it back to a player who is there time and time again in these positions. The ball is first class back to him and that's a wonderful goal. It's a proper Manchester United goal.

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Jose Mourinho says West Ham made it tough and was relieved his Manchester United side left the London Stadium with a victory.

"It was the stretching of the pitch, doing things more quickly and being more direct. It was so much different to that more pedestrian pace in the final 25 minutes of the first half."

Mourinho's men back in the mix?

Victory moved Manchester United level on points with fifth-placed Tottenham, and just one point behind Arsenal in fourth. Both those teams have a game in hand but Mourinho's men have now won seven in a row in all competitions and are aiming high.

Mourinho's winning streak

Jose Mourinho has won seven games in a row (all comps) for the first time since January 2014 at Chelsea

But where can they finish? The 10-point deficit to leaders Chelsea, who have also played a game less, appears too big a gap to contemplate right now - but Quinn says they are moving in the right direction and back in contention for at least a top-four finish.

"They just need to keep doing what they're doing and if Chelsea come back to them then that's great. But that's out of their hands," he said.

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Jose Mourinho says West Ham made it tough and was relieved his Manchester United side left the London Stadium with a victory.

"They'll feel really good with the three points after that and this momentum will grow. They should just feel good about what they're doing, the fans are beginning to enjoy it a lot more and they're creeping into positions where they can move on.

"There are reasons why they can feel they can start to pick off these teams ahead of them one at a time."

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