Lingard redemption as United seal comeback win: Richard Buxton
The England international seals United's comeback with late winner; de Gea ensures victory with penalty save
Jesse Lingard in possession late on should give Manchester United fans cold sweats.
The England international's calamitous back-pass in midweek turned a draw against Young Boys into a complete humiliation.
But Lingard redeemed himself for his part in the Red Devils' Champions League reversal at the Swiss side by completing a 2-1 comeback victory at West Ham United last night.
| WEST HAM UNITED | MANCHESTER UNITED |
| 1 | 2 |
| (Said Benrahma 30) | (Cristiano Ronaldo 35, Jesse Lingard 89) |
Home supporters at the London Stadium had grown accustomed to seeing him cutting inside and rippling the net during a four-month loan spell away from the 20-time English champions.
He did it again in the 89th minute yesterday, this time for the visitors, who went level on points with Liverpool and Chelsea and preserved an unbeaten start to their new English Premier League campaign.
Deficits serve only to stoke the fire in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's charges, who responded to Raphael Varane turning Said Benrahma's strike into his own net in the 30th minute with another fightback.
Under Solskjaer, United have now redeemed more points from losing positions - 35 - than any EPL team during the previous two seasons.
Only Juergen Klopp's Reds and Leicester City, with 20 apiece, have produced anything remotely close.
Yet, in the first 15 minutes at the London Stadium, they had won the possession stakes by 75 per cent, but lost the balance of play with Harry Maguire's inability to dribble his way out of trouble allowing Benrahma to dispossess him and tee up Jarrod Bowen for a shot.
Defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka redeemed his Champions League sending-off by blocking that initial effort.
But the Hammers' auxiliary striker was still able to squirm a shot past Maguire from close range minutes later, as the pendulum continued to swing in his side's favour.
In the face of such unrelenting pressure, it was only a matter of time before it told as three United players attempted to charge down Benrahma on the edge of the penalty area before Varane's failed interception saw David de Gea wrong-footed in his goal.
Solskjaer, however, knows the comeback tune particularly well; it has been the defining theme of his Old Trafford tenure.
Fightbacks are still the fail-safe method to stave off fresh talk of a potential crisis in the wake of defeats such as the Swiss debacle.
Cristiano Ronaldo's second coming has certainly helped ease the pressure with his fourth goal in three games helping drive United to a first-half equaliser.
A floated cross from Bruno Fernandes allowed his compatriot to steal a march on Aaron Cresswell in the London side's defence and swing a deft volley with the outside of his right boot straight at Lukasz Fabianski before plundering the follow-up into a gaping net.
After Lingard's late heroics, Solskjaer also had de Gea to thank for stopping West Ham substitute Mark Noble's stoppage-time penalty, after Luke Shaw was adjudged to have handled an Andriy Yarmolenko cross.
No wonder the United manager bounded onto the pitch in elation at full-time.
He had managed to get away with it yet again.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now