Ugly win for Man United, uglier loss for West Ham

Football in the UK

An ugly win for Manchester United. An even uglier loss for West Ham.

United scored twice through Marcus Rashford in the opening 24 minutes then produced a gritty, ultra-defensive display to grind out a 2-1 win over fierce rival Liverpool and strengthen second place in the Premier League.

"It was perfect, in relation to what the game gave us," said United manager Jose Mourinho, who won the tactical battle over rival manager Juergen Klopp.

There was as much action in the stands as on the field at West Ham, where home fans invaded the field on two separate occasions to confront players and gathered below the directors' box to force the club's owners to be escorted out in the second half of the 3-0 loss to Burnley.

Young fans were pictured taking refuge in Burnley's dug-out amid the disorder.

"It's well known fans haven't been happy for a long time," said West Ham captain Mark Noble, who grabbed one of the pitch invaders and threw him to the ground in one exchange.

"I'm a human being. I know I'm out on the pitch, under scrutiny, but if someone approaches me I will protect myself."

West Ham stayed just above the relegation zone with its latest heavy defeat — a week after losing 4-1 at fellow relegation rival Swansea — but its Premier League plight is nothing compared to West Bromwich Albion's.

A 4-1 home loss to Leicester left West Brom in last place on 20 points, seven from safety with eight games left. LIVERPOOL BULLIED Liverpool's players failed to recover from a first half where they were bullied by United and failed to deal with the hosts' direct and aggressive approach.

The source of both goals was long clearances by United goalkeeper David De Gea to Romelu Lukaku, whose power and athleticism was too much for marker Dejan Lovren.

Lukaku's flick-on was seized by Rashford, who drove in the first goal in the 14th minute. Then Lovren fell to the ground in an aerial challenge with Lukaku, whose pass into the area was intercepted only for Rashford to sidefoot home the loose ball.

United packed its defense, with wingers Juan Mata and Rashford playing as auxiliary full backs and central midfielders Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay patrolling in front of the defense. Liverpool's top scorer Mohamed Salah had a quiet day, and was thrown to the ground by Chris Smalling at one point.

Liverpool dominated possession but could only muster one goal, a spectacular miscued volley by United defender Eric Bailly into his own net in the 66th.

United moved five points clear of third-place Liverpool and stayed nine points ahead of Chelsea. WARM-UP FOR BARCA Criticized for walking around at times in last weekend's loss at Man City, Chelsea's players were enjoying a stroll against Crystal Palace — until the final 10 minutes.

Chelsea was 2-0 up after 32 minutes after a strike by in-form winger Willian and an own-goal by Martin Kelly.

Palace fought back late on and, after Alexander Sorloth had a goal disallowed, Patrick van Aanholt scored in the 90th to ensure a nervy finish. WEST HAM DISORDER One of the more bizarre scenes during a chaotic second half at the Olympic Stadium was the sight of a man running toward the center circle while holding aloft a corner flag.

More worrying was Noble, clearly enraged, grappling with another pitch invader with no stewards anywhere in range.

It was a return of the crowd disorder that marked the team's first few weeks in the stadium, where it moved in the summer of 2016 on a rented basis after leaving its Upton Park home of 112 years.

West Ham has called an emergency meeting and said it was "committed to taking decisive and appropriate action" after launching a "full and thorough investigation" into the disorder.

The problems started after Ashley Barnes gave Burnley the lead in the 66th minute. Chris Wood added two further goals as West Ham collapsed to be only three points above the relegation zone with eight games left. PARDEW ON BRINK West Brom manager Alan Pardew will hold talks with the club's owners after a seventh straight loss in all competitions left the team destined for the second tier.

"They might think a change is a better thing for the club, I don't know," said Pardew.

West Brom took the lead through Salomon Rondon. Jamie Vardy equalized before Leicester scored second-half goals through Riyad Mahrez, Kelechi Iheanacho and Vicente Iborra.

It is West Brom's worst run of results in 15 years. FEARS EASED Everton and Newcastle eased their relegation concerns with convincing wins.

Wayne Rooney's missed penalty had little effect as Everton was already 2-0 ahead against 10-man Brighton and on its way to a third straight home win to climb to ninth place.

Newcastle won 3-0 at home to Southampton, with on-loan Brazilian Kenedy scoring twice, to move five points clear of the bottom three.

Swansea played with just 10 men from the 11th minute to draw 0-0 at Huddersfield. Both teams are four points above the relegation zone.

PW D L F A Pts Man City 29 25 3 1 83 20 78 Man United 30 20 5 5 58 23 65 Liverpool 30 17 9 4 68 34 60 Tottenham 29 17 7 5 55 24 58 Chelsea 30 17 5 8 52 27 56 Arsenal 29 13 6 10 52 41 45 Burnley 30 11 10 9 27 26 43 Leicester 30 10 10 10 45 43 40 Everton 30 10 7 13 35 49 37 Watford 29 10 6 13 39 47 36 Brighton 30 8 10 12 28 40 34 Bournemouth 29 8 9 12 34 44 33 Newcastle 30 8 8 14 30 40 32 Swansea 30 8 7 15 25 42 31 Huddersfield 30 8 7 15 25 50 31 West Ham 30 7 9 14 36 57 30 Southampton 30 5 13 12 29 44 28 Crystal Palace 30 6 9 15 28 48 27 Stoke 29 6 9 14 28 54 27 West Brom 30 3 11 16 23 47 20

Saturday 17 March

Bournemouth v WBA Huddersfield v Crystal Palace Stoke v Everton Liverpool v Watford

Saturday 31 March

Crystal Palace v Liverpool Brighton v Leicester Man United v Swansea Newcastle v Huddersfield Watford v Bournemouth West Brom v Burnley West Ham v Southampton Everton v Man City

Sunday 1 April

Arsenal v Stoke Chelsea v Tottenham Yesterday Today Rangers-Celtic

PW D L F A Pts Celtic 28 19 7 2 56 18 64 Rangers 29 18 4 7 59 32 58 Aberdeen 29 16 5 8 43 33 53 Hibernian 29 14 9 6 42 32 51 Kilmarnock 29 11 10 8 39 38 43 Hearts 30 9 12 9 29 29 39 Motherwell 29 10 5 14 34 39 35 St Johnstone 29 9 6 14 29 42 33 Hamilton 27 8 5 14 38 48 29 Dundee FC 29 8 4 17 30 47 28 Partick Thistle 29 6 7 16 26 47 25 Ross County 29 5 6 18 31 51 21

PW D L F A Pts Wolves 36 23 7 6 63 32 76 Cardiff 36 22 7 7 55 30 73 Aston Villa 36 20 9 7 60 33 69 Fulham 37 19 11 7 64 39 68 Derby 36 16 13 7 55 34 61 M’brough 37 18 7 12 53 35 61 Bristol City 37 15 13 9 53 42 58 Preston 37 14 15 8 46 37 57 Sheffield Utd 36 17 5 14 49 43 56 Millwall 37 14 13 10 44 37 55 Brentford 36 14 11 11 52 42 53 Ipswich 36 15 7 14 47 44 52 Leeds 37 14 8 15 49 51 50 Norwich 36 12 12 12 37 41 48 Nottingham 36 13 5 18 43 54 44 QPR 36 11 10 15 40 52 43 Sheffield Wed 37 8 14 15 39 51 38 Hull City 36 8 12 16 50 56 36 Reading 36 8 12 16 42 51 36 Bolton 37 8 12 17 32 56 36 Barnsley 36 7 11 18 36 53 32 Birmingham 37 8 6 23 25 57 30 Burton 36 7 9 20 26 62 30 Sunderland 37 5 13 19 38 66 28

League One

Yesterday Yesterday