Magassa makes pedestrian United pay as Hammers poach a valuable point

Ruben Amorim's side failed to find anything that looked like a spark in a game which neither side did enough to win

THE LEVELLER: West Ham's Soungoutou Magassa, centre, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and West Ham United in Manchester, England, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Premier League: Manchester United 1 West Ham 1 

A late equaliser from Soungoutou Magassa salvaged a point for West Ham in a game which in truth neither side deserved to win.

The Hammers will be well served to temper the disappointment of missing a chance to climb out of the bottom three by acknowledging that this could prove to be a very useful outcome at the end of the season in their battle for Premier League survival.

Just seven minutes remained when their French midfielder pounced as the hosts failed to clear a corner. That saw them pegged back after a first league goal for more than 18 months from Diogo Dalot looked like providing them with a morale-boosting victory.

It's now 18 games spanning more than four-and-a-half years since United lost at home in midweek but that will be of little consolation after they frittered away another two points on the back of going down to 10-man Everton in their previous game at the Theatre of Dreams as they spurned an opportunity to climb to fifth.

West Ham remain without an away win under Nuno Espirito Santo this season but this was another step in the right direction in terms of a gritty backs-to-the wall display to earn reward from a game which they would more than likely have lost before the arrival of the former Nottingham Forest coach.

It was almost a year to the day that Nuno's Forest inflicted a first home defeat on Ruben Amorim shortly after the Portuguese was appointed last November.

Showing three changes from the side which earned a first win in four at Crystal Palace on Sunday, the hosts started brightly and had two early penalty shouts correctly turned down by referee Andrew Kitchen.

Amad Diallo was fortunate to avoid a yellow card for descent after going to ground in the area in search of a penalty with a melodramatic dive. It failed to fool Kitchen, who chose not to penalise the Manchester United forward when many of his counterparts might well have done.

Bruno Fernandes went down in the box in similarly dramatic fashion soon afterwards under a perfectly fair Tomas Soucek challenge, despite the United skipper crying foul.

West Ham prospered down both flanks in response, and it took a fine block from Casemiro to thwart Mateus Fernandes as the midfielder let fly from an inviting Aaron Wan-Bissaka cut-back after the defender galloped unmarked down the hosts' unguarded right hand side.

The visitors forced the first three corners of the contest. From the fourth, United very nearly took the lead. Bryan Mbeumo's set-piece found its way back to the Cameroon forward, whose curling left-foot effort from the edge of the area was brilliantly tipped over the bar by back-pedalling keeper Alphonse Areola.

Joshua Zirkzee came even closer to breaking the deadlock midway through the first half when the Dutch forward diverted Diallo's centre towards goal from close range only for Wan Bissaka to head the ball off the line before Fernandes' improvised volleyed follow-up grazed the post in a major let-off for the visitors.

Jarrod Bowen brought the visitors some much needed respite from the mounting pressure they were coming under when the Hammers skipper set out on fine a slaloming run down the right that took him deftly past three defenders and into the United box.

What at one point was shaping-up to be a goal of the season contender fell rather flat as the England midfielder failed to match his impressive approach play with a similar finish as a weak shot was easily gathered by Senne Lammens.

Clearcut chances continued to remain at a premium in the second-half as Magassa fired into the side-netting at the culmination of a three-man break from halfway.

The goal desperately needed to ignite a fading contest arrived just before the hour from an unlikely source as the visitors paid for some statuesque defending.

Casemiro's deflected ball into the area fell to Dalot, who kept his composure to take a first touch before beating Areola with an unflustered finish from a dozen yards. The relief around Old Trafford was palpable.

It proved to be the Portugal defender's last contribution as he was substituted to a standing ovation shortly afterwards.

United's quest for a nerve-soothing second goal saw Mbeumo go down in the box under minimal contact from Jean-Clair Todibo, referee Kitchen again, rightly, unmoved.

Just seven minutes remained when the Hammers levelled.

Bowen flicked on a corner swung over by substitute Andy Irving and although Noussair Mazraoui performed heroics to clear the ball off the line, Magassa was perfectly placed to fire home the rebound from close range for his first goal since his summer arrival from Monaco.

Manchester United (3-4-2-1): Lammens 8; Mazraoui 7, Heaven 5 (Yoro 46, 7), Shaw 7 (Martinez 88, 6); Amad 6, Casemiro 6, Bruno Fernandes 6, Dalot 7 (Dorgu 68, 6); Mbeumo 6, Cunha 6 (Ugarte 77, 6), Zirkzee 5 (Mount 78, 6). Booked: Heaven 

West Ham (4-2-3-1): Areola 6; Wan-Bissaka 7, Mavropanos 6, Todibo 6, Diouf 6; Magassa 8, Potts 7 (Irving 83, 6); Bowen 6, Soucek 6 (Kante 83, 6), Mateus Fernandes 6; Wilson 6 (Kilman 87, 5). Booked: Diouf, Wan-Bissaka.

Referee: Andrew Kitchen