Jay Rodriguez scored the only goal at Old Trafford this afternoon as bottom of the Premier League West Bromwich Albion stunned Manchester United to hand Manchester City the 2017-18 Premier League title.
We dominated possession and territory but the only clear cut chances fell into the hands of Romelu Lukaku who didn’t have his shooting boots on today. Ander Herrera was denied a clear and obvious penalty in the first half.
West Brom’s winner came from a corner of which they had caused us problems earlier in the game before scoring.
Here are how our players fared:
David de Gea 6 – Made an excellent to deny Jake Livermore early on but didn’t have a chance with the goal.
Antonio Valencia 6 – Not under a great deal of pressure defensively but didn’t offer too much going forward either.
Victor Lindelof 6 – West Brom didn’t offer much threat in open play but we were poor at defending set pieces today.
Chris Smalling 6 – Won a couple of aerial battles in open play but both West Brom strikers saw chances from corners. Kept Salomon Rondon quiet in open play.
Ashley Young 5 – Matt Phillips barely got a touch of the ball whilst Ashley Young was on the pitch. However, the left-back didn’t create any chances with his crossing opportunities.
Nemanja Matic 6 – Accidentally headed the corner across his own goal from which Jay Rodriguez headed West Brom into the lead. Otherwise Nemanja Matic was comfortable in midfield after a couple of early attacks from the visitors.
Ander Herrera 5 – Saw a lot of the ball but didn’t do much with it. Replaced at half-time.
Juan Mata 6 – Some nice touches around the penalty area and setup a couple of chances.
Paul Pogba 5 – Booked for a needless handball, fired some hopeless efforts from far out and was replaced just before the hour. Sloppy on the ball and didn’t create much.
Alexis Sanchez 5 – Created the odd chance but otherwise a relatively quiet game in which Alexis Sanchez didn’t have a single effort on goal himself. Didn’t pick up very good positions.
Romelu Lukaku 5 – Missed two one-on-one’s; the first fired at Ben Foster and the latter he didn’t even get a shot in after a heavy first touch. Saw a header well saved by the West Brom goalkeeper in the second half.
Substitutes
Jesse Lingard (45 mins) 5 – Missed a good opportunity to play Anthony Martial in one-on-one at 0-0 and fired a couple of efforts off target himself.
Anthony Martial (33 mins) N/A – Replaced Paul Pogba and played out on the left wing but couldn’t get into the game.
Marcus Rashford (16 mins) N/A – Brought on after West Brom went ahead but barely got a touch of the ball, let alone a shot in on goal.
