DAVID DE GEA was mobbed by his team-mates for the last-gasp penalty save that ended a pulsating game amid dramatic scenes.
West Ham were awarded an injury time spot kick when Manchester United defender Luke Shaw handled a cross from Andriy Yarmolenko.
The Hammers even brought on their normally ruthless penalty taker and club captain Mark Noble to take it with his only kick of the game.
But keeper De Gea pulled off a stunning stop to maintain his team’s lead for the last few seconds before a 29th success Premier League away win was confirmed.
Ref Martin Atkinson had already waved away a penalty appeal for West Ham and two by United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in a game that was short on quality but packed with incident.
Jesse Lingard, who spent the second half of last season on loan at West Ham, scored with a minute of normal time left after coming off the bench.
The forward refused to celebrate having been given a standing ovation by home supporters for his contribution helping West Ham finish sixth in the Premier League to qualify for Europe.
A massive deflection and a goalkeeping error had led to the two earlier goals when both teams appeared to be suffering fatigue from European matches in midweek.
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Said Benrahma put West Ham ahead on half an hour when his shot rebounded heavily off United defender Raphael Varane to wrong-foot De Gea.
But just five minutes later Ronaldo levelled when Lukasz Fabianski could not hold his first time shot and the Portuguese star followed up to poke the ball home from a yard out.
Atkinson rejected West Ham appeals for a foul by fullback Arron Wan-Bissaka on West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek because of an offside decision.
Most notably, Ronaldo failed to get a penalty in the closing stages when he was tackled by defender Kurt Zouma because the striker was already going down.
West Ham full back was also lucky to get away without conceding a penalty when he left his knee out for Ronaldo to run during a burst into the box.
It is West Ham’s first defeat of the season and Man United now go back to January last year for their last loss on the road.
Lingard told the press: “[I’m] over the moon.
“I got a brilliant reception when I came on I had a good time at West Ham but I have to move on and do my best for Man United.
“I have been working hard and to overcome last week it wasn’t easy but to get some minutes today and score was brilliant.”
De Gea added: “I saw Rice with the ball so I was expecting him to take the penalty but then I saw Noble.
“Last minute in the game and I make the save.
“It is a massive three points for us. It is always difficult to play here against West Ham so we are really really happy.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
