Manchester United fight to win. Exit Tottenham and Southampton
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Manchester, March 2 (US): Manchester United battled to beat West Ham United 3-1 and reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, as Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton suffered shock defeats.
Three days after winning the League Cup, Manchester United fell behind to Said Benrahma’s goal in the 54th minute at Old Trafford, but an own goal scored by West Ham’s Nayef Aguird and other attacks from Alejandro Garnacho and Farid pushed the hosts to the quarter-finals, Reuters reported.
Manchester coach Erik Ten Hag was pleased with his players.
“The resilience of this team and the belief that they were going to win the title was fantastic,” the Dutchman told ITV.
West Ham, who have won just once at Old Trafford in their last 22 visits, took advantage of their sloppy defense to open the scoring.
Tomas Soucek kept the ball in play on the left touchline and when the Manchester United players asked for a throw-in, the Czech played the ball to Benrahma, who fired a shot past David De Gea into the top corner.
United thought they had leveled when Bruno Fernandes found Casemiro with a one-point free kick, but his headed shot was disallowed for offside.
It seemed that the match would take extra time until Argentine striker Garnacho controlled the ball inside the West Ham penalty area before firing a shot past goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.
Brazilian Fred, a 12-time FA Cup winner, added the third goal to qualify for the sixth round at home against Fulham.
“I had a strong feeling that we could still win the game, I saw the faith, there was calm, there wasn’t a moment of panic,” Ten Hag said.
Tottenham lost 1-0 to Sheffield United after Elimane Ndiaye scored 11 minutes from time to stun the visitors.
Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom told the BBC: “The performance by all the players was first class and the experienced boys at the back were first class too.”
Sixteenth-placed Grimsby Town in League Two continued their run in the FA Cup as Gavan Holohan’s two penalties beat Southampton 2-1 at home and sent the Fourth Division side into the quarter-finals for the first time in 84 years.
Grimsby went 2-0 up shortly after half-time but Southampton pulled one back through Doug Caleta Carr to ensure a tense finish.
Grimsby coach Paul Hurst told ITV.
Grimsby are only the sixth team from the Fourth Division or below to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup since the introduction of the division in 1958-59.
Championship leaders Burnley beat Fleetwood Town 1-0 in the other game to set up a quarter-final trip to champions Manchester City.