8 hours ago
16
Selhurst Park has been an unhappy hunting ground for Manchester United in recent years, and for half of this game it looked like being a familiar story in the autumn sunshine in South London.
A goal down and playing as abysmally as they did in Monday’s defeat to Everton at Old Trafford, Ruben Amorim and his players looked set to end the weekend in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
Credit it to United, though. They turned it around after half-time with goals from Joshua Zirkzee and Mason Mount to secure their first win here since July 2020 and move above Palace into sixth place for a few hours at least.
Maybe Oliver Glasner’s side ran out of gas after behind asked to play again less than three days after losing in the Europa League to Strasbourg. Eight of that line-up started against United.
Amorim only made two changes from Monday’s chastening defeat to 10-man Everton, bringing in Mount and Diogo Dalot for Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu. Benching Dorgu was hardly a surprise after Amorim admitted in the build-up to this game that the Dane looks anxious every time he touches the ball.
‘We improved the way we trained this week,’ said the United boss before kick-off. ‘We dropped the intensity in the last game and we tried to regain that.’
Manchester United secured their first win at Selhurst Park since July 2020 on Sunday
They however started the game poorly and Jean-Philippe Mateta put the hosts ahead in the first-half
The Frenchman was ordered to retake a penalty after double-touching the ball, but scored his second attempt
It’s fair to say that United failed in that regard in a first half that saw their xG from open play drop to an almost non-existent 1.01.
Their only real chance came from a long throw and Leny Yoro’s flick-on in the opening seconds, as former United keeper Dean Henderson only just prevented Bryan Mbeumo and Casemiro from scrambling the ball over the line.
Casemiro then flicked a header narrowly wide from Bruno Fernandes’ free kick in the 10th minute after the Brazilian was fouled by Daichi Kamada, but that was about it from United as an attacking threat. With Zirkzee once again leading the line in the absence of Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha, they looked about as toothless as it’s possible to be.
Palace, on the other hand, were brimming with intent despite a second game in quick succession, and could easily have been more than one goal ahead before half-time. It arrived from the penalty spot in the 36th minute after Jean-Philippe Mateta showed a great touch to control Adam Wharton’s pass on the turn, and went down under a clumsy challenge from Yoro.
Mateta sent Senne Lammens the wrong way but referee Rob Jones ordered it to be retaken after VAR spotted an accidental double touch by the Frenchman. The rules have been changed this season to allow a retake when the first attempt was successful in the wake of Julian Alvarez’s disallowed effort in the Champions League clash between Real Madrid and Atletico in March. It was no problem for Mateta who place the ball into the other corner of the net for his ninth goal of the season.
Mateta has been a handful for United in the past and it was no different here as he went into battle with Matthijs de Ligt. When the Dutchman mistimed a challenge trying to cut out an excellent blind pass from Wharton in the eighth minute, Mateta raced clear but could only hit the side-netting.
When De Ligt headed against Yoro under pressure from Palace’s No.14 shortly afterwards, Mateta was away again but drilled another effort wide. He could easily have been celebrating a first-half hat-trick.
Kamada sidefooted weakly at Lammens after Palace sliced through United with a slick move midway through the first half, Yoro got his body in the way of Yeremy Pino’s blast after the United keeper punched clear, and Luke Shaw got across to make a last-ditch tackle on substitute Eddie Nketiah following another slip by De Ligt.
Joshua Zirkzee bagged the equaliser with his first Premier League goal in almost a year
Mason Mount later sealed the victory with a quickly-taken free-kick fired past Dean Henderson
For Ruben Amorim it was a much-needed victory after a dire performance on Monday night
At that stage, it was hard to see where a United equaliser would come from, but somehow they scored twice within 18 minutes of the restart. Not surprisingly, both efforts came from set-pieces.
Zirkzee scored the first in 54th minute from Fernandes’ free kick after Nketiah had been booked for a foul on Dalot. The Dutchman was moving away from goal as he controlled the ball on his chest under pressure from Kamada, but sent a volley swerving into the far corner from a difficult angle past Henderson who was too preoccupied guarding his near post.
After Zirkzee nearly scored at the other end when substitute Mazraoui’s clearance hit him and went past the post, Mount fired United ahead from another free kick after Dalot was fouled by Marc Guehi in the 63rd minute. Fernandes touched the ball to his teammate and Mount drilled a shot through the wall and inside Henderson’s right-hand post.
After that it was merely a case of protecting the lead, and United managed it without any further drama against a Palace side who increasingly ran out of steam and ideas.
