Premier League release statement on controversial penalty given to West Ham against Man Utd

The Premier League have released a statement clarifying the VAR decision to award West Ham a controversial late penalty in their 2-1 win over Manchester United.

Jarrod Bowen converted the penalty on 92 minutes to hand West Ham their third victory of the Premier League season.

The win takes Julen Lopetegui's side up to 13th in the table and ahead of United, who are down in a lowly 14th.

Referee David Coote decided not to award the penalty to West Ham on the field after Danny Ings went down under challenge from Matthijs de Ligt.

However, VAR checked the incident and recommended that Coote should overturn his decision.

The referee did so and awarded the penalty, which Bowen scored into the bottom right corner of the net.

United fans were furious with the decision, arguing that there had been a handball by Ings prior to contact and that there hadn't been enough contact between the two players to warrant a penalty being given.

Now, the Premier League's official Match Centre Twitter account has clarified their reasoning for the penalty being given.

The account posted: "The referee did not award a penalty to West Ham for a challenge by De Ligt on Ings.

"The VAR deemed there was sufficient contact on Ings' lower leg and recommended an on-field review.

"The referee overturned his original decision and awarded a penalty."

West Ham had earlier taken the lead in the second half, with Crysencio Summerville scoring his first goal for the Hammers since his summer transfer from Championship side Leeds.

Casemiro equalised for United, who had earlier seen Diogo Dalot miss an open goal on the half volley in the first half of the game.

Ten Hag's side have now picked up 11 points for nine games, and are already six points away from the Champions League qualification spots ahead of Arsenal's late kick-off against Liverpool.