- West Brom 1-2 Manchester United: Romelu Lukaku scores in successive games as Red Devils close the gap on Manchester City with a win at The Hawthorns
- Romelu Lukaku glanced Marcus Rashford's whipped cross into the top corner to score the opening goal
- United doubled their lead in the first half after Jesse Lingard's shot took a big deflection off Ahmed Hegazi
- Salomon Rondon almost converted Oliver Burke's cross but the Baggies rarely threatened the United goal
- Gareth Barry finally made a breakthrough for the home side as he bundled the ball home in the final minutes
If Jose Mourinho wants people to be more positive about Manchester United, he might like to have a word with Romelu Lukaku.
For the second time in five days the striker celebrated a goal by, well, not celebrating. Stony faced, arms hanging down by his sides, Lukaku seemed determined to prove a point again.
Mourinho claimed it was out of respect to West Bromwich Albion, where Lukaku spent a season on loan five years ago. That would be plausible were it not for the fact that he did exactly the same thing after scoring an almost identical goal against Bournemouth in midweek.
Romelu Lukaku barely celebrated after opening the scoring despite his United team-mates congratulating the striker
The Belgian striker (centre) rose highest to glance Marcus Rashford's whipped cross into the top corner of the net
United doubled their lead in the first half after Jesse Lingard's shot took a wicked deflection off defender Ahmed Hegazi
Lukaku was in a more celebratory mood after Lingard (left) doubled United's lead with his heavily-deflected shot
MATCH FACTS, LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE
West Brom: Foster 6; Nyom 6.5, Hegazi 5, Evans 7, Gibbs 5.5; Burke 6.5 (Rodriguez 64, 6), Livermore 6, Yacob 5.5 (Barry 46, 7), Krychowiak 6 (Brunt 71, 6), McClean 6.5; Rondon 6. Subs (not used): Myhill, Robson-Kanu, McAuley, Field.
Scorer: Barry 77
Booked: Rondon
Subs not used: Robson-Kanu, Myhill, McAuley, Field
Manchester United (4-2-3-1): De Gea 7; Valencia 6.5 (Rojo 66, 6), Jones 6.5, Smalling 7, Young 6.5; Matic 7, Herrera 6; Mata 6.5, Lingard 7 (McTominay 86), Rashford 7.5 (Martial 79, 6); Lukaku 6.5. Subs (not used): Romero, Lindelof, Ibrahimovic, Shaw.
Scorers: Lukaku 27, Lingard 35
Booked: Rashford, Matic, Rojo
Subs not used: Lindelof, Ibrahimovic, Romero, Shaw
Referee: Anthony Taylor 7
Star man: Marcus Rashford
Attendance: 24, 782
Romelu Lukaku dropped deep to make things happen for United...
Nor did it stop Lukaku happily indulging in one of those jaunty celebration routines with Jesse Lingard after the England midfielder scored United’s second, and ultimately decisive, goal in a hard-fought win at the Hawthorns on Sunday.
It was enough to reduce Manchester City’s lead at the top of the table to 11 points. Still a daunting gap and probably why this did not feel like a moment for Mourinho and his players to get too over-excited.
The United manager was hardly doing cartwheels himself when they scored.
He put that down to what he called balance and experience, once again making another pointed reference to the ‘circus’ he finds so distasteful.
Mourinho is clearly unhappy at the way Pep Guardiola and his team have been enjoying their scintillating start to the season, a point he made in person when the water bottles and milk began flying at Old Trafford last week.
Gareth Barry bundled the ball home for West Brom to set up a tense ending but the Baggies could not capitalise
It was not all good news for Jose Mourinho as his captain Antonio Valencia was forced off with a hamstring problem
The Baggies rarely threatened David de Gea but Salomon Rondon almost converted Oliver Burke's cross in the second half
He is also irked by the unkind comparisons between the festival of football in full swing down the road and his more pragmatic approach.
The problem is that by making their points so obviously, he and Lukaku are coming across as rather joyless.
Of course, it is easy to understand Mourinho’s frustration. In most other seasons, a return of 41 points from 18 games would be very decent. But this is not a normal season. City are tearing up the record books and casting a long shadow over their neighbours.
On a weekend when Spurs were swept aside at the Etihad, here was another grinding United win.
The ramifications of their derby defeat is still being felt around Old Trafford, and no-one seems to have taken it more personally than Lukaku.
United’s £75million striker appears to be sulking after he was criticised for contributing to both City goals and another failure to score against one of the top clubs.
West Brom full-back Allan Nyom (left) got the better of his early bout with winger Rashford as United were frustrated
Lukaku (left) nearly made the most of being isolated at the back post but Kieran Gibbs managed to clear the ball
The United forward almost converted the follow-up but goalkeeper Ben Foster (right) beat the forward to the ball
Marcus Rashford returned to the starting line-up after being used as a second-half substitute against Bournemouth
Rashford received a yellow card from referee Anthony Taylor after clashing with West Brom defender Hegazi
Lukaku certainly finds it easier to find the net against those teams outside the traditional Big Six (31 in 39 games now) as he demonstrated again on Sunday.
West Brom had already got away once with leaving 5ft 10in Kieran Gibbs to mark Lukaku, but it was never a good idea and they paid for it when the 6ft 3in Belgian headed United in front after 26 minutes.
It came from a Jonny Evans clearance which Juan Mata brought under control 25 yards from goal.
The Spaniard fed Marcus Rashford on the left who decided to cross rather than take on two defenders. The youngster’s delivery was perfect for Lukaku who rose above Gibbs to glance a header past Ben Foster.
United then took a commanding two-goal lead with a bit of help from the home side in the 35th minute.
Nemanja Matic played the ball into Lukaku who laid it off to Mata. His pass gave Lingard an opportunity to shoot from the edge of the area, but the effort was unlikely to have troubled Foster until Ahmed Hegazi stuck out his left leg and diverted the ball past the keeper and into his own net.
West Brom winger Burke (right) looked a rare bright spark for the home side as he offered a threat going forward
Foster would have had an easy save off Lingard's shot before Hegazi's attempted block looped the ball over the keeper
Jonny Evans captained West Brom against his old side United on Sunday, who he made 131 appearances for in nine years
Rondon (right) runs past defender Phil Jones as he spearheads a counter attack which came to nothing for West Brom
Manchester United looked threatening at times with Juan Mata (right) nearly capitalising on a defensive mistake
‘Park the bus, park the bus Man United,’ sang the away fans sarcastically, and at that point United were good value for their two-goal lead.
That should really have been it against a West Brom team without a single goal in their first three games under new manager Alan Pardew who took 44 minutes to force David De Gea into his first real save of the game.
Credit to Pardew, though, they took the game to United after half-time and Antonio Valencia made a crucial intervention to stop Salomon Rondon from reaching Oliver Burke’s cross before they pulled one back in the 77th minute.
United struggled to deal with a corner from the right as Evans tried to meet it and the ball bounced back off substitute Marcos Rojo. Evans had another go at it but missed, and Gareth Barry turned it over the line from close range.
It set up a tense finish for United in which they were forced to defend deep and, at times, desperately as Albion threw everything at them.
Mourinho’s side held on, though, and that was reason for a little satisfaction, if not celebration.
The new Baggies boss Alan Pardew was looking for his side's first Premier League win since taking over at the club
Manchester United manager Mourinho looks on as his side prepare to kick-off their Premier League match at West Brom
Former West Brom defender Jonas Olsson was presented to the fans ahead of the match to say a proper goodbye
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5188179/West-Brom-1-2-Manchester-United-Mourinhos-men-hold-on.html#ixzz51YAWeHIq
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