Paul Pogba slammed by Gary Neville after giving away Manchester United penalty against West Ham

Manchester United‘s top-four hopes took a blow at half-time of their Premier League clash with West Ham.

The Red Devils only need a point to go above Leicester in fourth heading into the final game of the season – which is away to the Foxes.

However, the likelihood of that became slimmer on Wednesday after falling behind to West Ham.

Paul Pogba was slammed by Gary Neville after conceding a penalty to West Ham

The Hammers were awarded a free-kick in first-half injury time when Timothy Fosu-Mensah fouled Michail Antonio 30 yards from goal. 

From the resulting set-piece Declan Rice blasted an effort towards goal which struck Paul Pogba.

Initially it appeared it hit him in the face – with the midfielder initiating so with some theatrics.

However, VAR showed it clearly and inexplicably hit the 27-year-old on the arm – with Pogba a good 10 yards or so away from where the free-kick initially took place.

United legend Gary Neville was on the co-commentary for the match and was damning of Pogba. Speaking on Sky Sports he said: ‘It’s rubbish from him, rubbish… it’s embarrassing.’

As a result a penalty was awarded to West Ham – which Antonio converted to put David Moyes’ side 1-0 up at half-time. 

Fellow United legend Patrice Evra was also critical of his former France team-mate in Pogba.

‘All United fans would like to see Paul bleeding. He knows what he has to do in the second half. As soon as I saw Paul stand up with no blood I knew he used his hands.

‘People know he has made a huge mistake. All United fans would like to see Paul bleeding, even if the ball broke his nose. It is difficult to forgive Paul on this one. He knows what he has to do in the second half. 

‘As soon as I saw Paul stand up and his face was so clean with no blood I knew he used his face. He made a big big mistake. Paul knows and we have VAR, today the one in VAR is not Stevie Wonder so that’s why he gave the penalty.’