Five Key Stats From United's Defeat To West Brom

Here are five key stats using Opta data on United's defeat to West Brom...

1. On the ball West Brom posted the lowest possession percentage (20%) of any winning team in the last 10 years of the Barclays Premier League. United's 80% mark was the highest the Reds have recorded since Opta started collating the data a decade ago and the highest overall this season, beating Manchester City's 77.6%, also against the cagey Baggies.

2. Pass master Ander Herrera made 127 passes, smashing the previous record for a United man this season - Michael Carrick's 117 in the win over Hull City in November. The Spaniard had 146 touches in total, the only Red to break into three figures against the Baggies (Antonio Valencia was next best on 98) and a whopping 96 of Herrera's passes came in the opposition half.

3. Marathon men Herrera also ran more than any of his team-mates for the eighth time in the last 10 matches. The Spaniard is now only one game behind Juan Mata in terms of the number of occasions he has achieved that feat in the league this term, although he beat Mata's distance by the shortest of margins on Saturday. Incidentally, the man who covered the most ground on the pitch was ex-Red Darren Fletcher by some distance.

4. Spot of bother Robin van Persie's penalty was kept out by Boaz Myhill, a rare miss by the Dutchman as he had scored his six previous spot-kicks in the Premier League. The Reds have now missed two on the trot as Wayne Rooney's effort from 12 yards at Liverpool was saved by Simon Mignolet.

5. Shots fired Despite another blank in front of goal, it was not for the lack of trying. United mustered 26 shots in total, 10 from van Persie alone, but 12 of those were blocked by the massed ranks at the back for Albion. When nine attempts did get through to Myhill, the keeper saved them all. In contrast, Tony Pulis' side had only three shots in each half but Chris Brunt's free-kick that deflected off Jonas Olsson proved the decisive one.