Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted fortune smiled on Manchester United as they scraped a 2-1 win over West Ham on Saturday. A brace of penalties from Paul Pogba – either side of Felipe Anderson’s leveller – lifted United above Arsenal and into fifth in the Premier League table, two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.
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However, Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini questioned the awarding of both spot-kicks and rued Anderson having a goal incorrectly ruled out for offside when the score was goalless. Solskjaer, who made five changes to his line-up ahead of the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final in Barcelona on Tuesday, did not speak about the questionable decisions, but admitted his side were a bit lucky.
“Sometimes you get more than what you deserve and today was one of those nights,” he said. “We were lucky it wasn’t Barcelona on the other side, but West Ham played well, played better than us, created chances. “It evens itself out in the long run. We were lucky to get away with the three points – even a draw at one point I would have taken.
You can go through all sorts, but (the 1-0 defeat to Barcelona in midweek) was hard, physically, mentally. “We have a game on Tuesday so I had to make a couple of decisions. I didn’t make it easy for the boys because I made changes. “Two were forced, the full-backs (Luke Shaw and Ashley Young) were suspended. Scott (McTominay) was fantastic in midweek but we needed a big performance from him again and I didn’t think mentally he was ready. (Marcus Rashford) was not 100 percent ready.”
