Resilient United fight back to sink Palace 2-1, they surge into third place

Manchester United welcomed Crystal Palace to Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.

First half

Crystal Palace had the first attempt when the ball broke to Jørgen Strand Larsen but his effort sailed wide.

The visitors were much the better team and grabbed an early lead when Leny Yoro was all at sea and allowed Maxence Lacroix to head in from a corner kick. After improving defensively in recent weeks under Michael Carrick, conceding such a poor goal will be a major disappointment.

Matheus Cunha produced United’s best attempt in the first 15 minutes when he broke free down the right, but his cross was easily collected by Dean Henderson. Palace continued to push and Ismaila Sarr’s fierce shot was well stopped by the Belgian keeper, Senne Lammens.

United’s afternoon got worse on 24 minutes when Luke Shaw had to be substituted for Noussair Mazraoui due to an injury after what seemed an innocuous-looking challenge. The Red Devils started to wake up a little, and Harry Maguire had a header blocked from a Bryan Mbeumo corner.

The home side upped the pace and Sesko headed a Bruno Fernandes cross into Henderson’s hands in front of the Stretford End. Fernandes was next to test Henderson, but his free kick from distance was well stopped by the former United keeper.

The home side kept up the pressure, and Casemiro headed wide from a free kick as United lacked a cutting edge in front of goal. The half-time whistle blew with the home side having a lot to do to overturn a poor afternoon’s display.

Second half

United pushed forward early on, and after Mbeumo was tackled in the area, Sesko’s shot was deflected wide for a corner. Casemiro was next to test the Palace defence, but his header sailed wide of the goal.

Palace responded and Larsen fired over from a counter-attack.

A fantastic ball from Fernandes put Cunha through on goal, but he was brought down by Lacroix and the referee finally pointed to the penalty spot. There was a lengthy VAR check, but the penalty was given and the goalscorer was sent off for a last-man offence.

Bruno Fernandes made no mistake, sending Henderson the wrong way after 57 minutes—game on. United piled on the pressure, but it was Sarr who broke through and fired at Lammens, who was equal to the task.

Reminiscent of a basketball match, Fernandes darted up the pitch and fired just wide of Henderson’s post. United turned the game around when Fernandes placed an inch-perfect cross onto Sesko’s head, who drilled the ball into the bottom corner in a proper number nine finish of yesteryear.

Cunha kept up the pace and ran at the Palace defence, but his shot went straight into the hands of the keeper.

Carrick’s side continued to push and Casemiro vollyed Mbeumo’s cross right at Henderson to keep the lead down to one.

Palace showed good fight though and came back into the game and Will Hughes’ shot was well blocked by the United defence.

Great play Fernandes resulted in Amad receiving the ball on the right and he cut inside and fired at goal but could not beat Henderson. Cunha was next to test his luck but once more, placed the ball right at the keeper.

Tyrick Mitchell responded for the away side and fired from range but the ball dipped over the crossbar.

The referee signalled there would be eight minutes of added time as the clock ticked past 90 minutes.

On 93 minutes, United almost had their third when a fierce shot by Amad was well stopped by Henderson.

Joshua Zirkzee was next but his effort was well blocked by the Palace defence after good work down the right by Amad.

The full time whistle blew and United held on for what could be a vital victory in the race for Champions League places.

Starting XI: Lammens, Shaw, Yoro, Maguire, Dalot, Casemiro, Mainoo, Cunha, Fernandes, Sesko, Mbeumo
Subs: Mazraoui, Amad, Zirkzee, Heaven

Featured image Alex Livesey via Getty Images

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