Bryan Mbeumo appealed for a penalty for Manchester United in their Premier League clash with West Ham.
21:37, 04 Dec 2025Updated 22:02, 04 Dec 2025
Bryan Mbeumo appealed for a penalty during Manchester United’s game against West Ham.(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Gary Neville felt it was the correct decision not to award Manchester United a penalty after Bryan Mbeumo went down in the area. The Cameroon international latched on to a superb pass from Bruno Fernandes before facing up West Ham defender Jean-Clair Todibo and going down.
Old Trafford appealed for a spot-kick during the latter stages of their showdown against their visitors from East London when Mbeumo and Todibo appeared to tangle in the box. The French centre-back dangled a leg and, as Mbeumo went to beat him, he was felled – leading to United protesting for a spot-kick.
However, replays appeared to show ex-Nice defender, Todibo, pulling his leg away after resisting the temptation to try nicking the ball off the United forward.
There was no advantage from referee Andrew Kitchen with the home side seeing a shot deflect behind Alphonse Areola’s goal for a corner kick.
Neville in turn admitted that there was no contact made by the Hammers’ defender.
“He got really close, the referee,” Neville said.
“It looks like Todibo just stuck a leg out, but did he make contact?
“He just stuck a leg out there, but he pulled it back.
“Mbeumo goes down. He just pulls that leg away there, he thinks about it, having a nibble.”
After an eventless first half, United broke the deadlock just before the hour mark. Diogo Dalot expertly finished to beat Hammers’ shot-stopper Areola.
A win would have taken Ruben Amorim’s team up to fifth in the Premier League table and to within a point of the Champions League places.
However, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side equalised with seven minutes of normal time remaining through Soungoutou Magassa.
The midfielder was in the right place at the right time to finish after Jarrod Bowen’s header was cleared off the line by Noussair Mazraoui.
United were forced to settle for a point in the end, on another frustrating evening at Old Trafford for Amorim.
It meant they failed to take the opportunity the move into the top five and go one step closer to breaking into the top-four.