Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester United: Late Zlatan Strike Helps Red Devils Keep Up Winning Ways
Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck late on to allow Manchester United to put together back-to-back league wins for the first time since August.
Captain Wayne Rooney returned to the side along with Juan Mata in place of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who is injured, and Anthony Martial who was simply left out of the squad. Manchester United dominated the first half and capitalised on their dominance with a late, albeit scrappy and probably offside, Paul Pogba goal.
Lineups
Crystal Palace: Hennessey; Kelly, Dann, Delaney, Ward; McArthur, Flamini; Zaha, Cabaye, Lee Chung-Yong; Benteke
Manchester United: De Gea; Bailly, Jones, Rojo, Blind; Carrick, Herrera; Rooney, Pogba, Mata; Ibrahimovic
Former Manchester United man, Wilfried Zaha, was the best chance of a goal for Crystal Palace who struggled to really get into the game in the first half. Marcos Rojo - who kept his place at centre-back with Eric Bailly (briefly) returning to deputise at right-back - tried to find a way to put an end to the Zaha threat once and for all with an appalling attempt at a tackle.
Much like every other tackle that was made on the Zaha that half, the Ivorian skipped comfortably over it, which was lucky as Rojo's tackle would've been an instant red and likely a pretty bad injury had it connected with the winger.
Neither side looked like producing anything else in the beginning of the first half in a game that looked to be drifting painfully towards a 1-0 United win. Crystal Palace were so poor going forward that Robbie Savage, commentator for the game and former footballer-turned-comedian, joked that they "looked like they were doing the mannequin challenge". Good one, Robbie. Very original.
However, shortly after the hour mark, James McArthur equalised for the Eagles with a goal completely against the run of play. Also completely out of nowhere was the Damien Delaney assist which lead to a goal that wouldn't have looked out of place at Camp Nou.
Manchester United looked to have hit back immediately when Mata finished from close range, but his goal was ruled out for offside. United flung a few long-range efforts at Hennessey and also had what looked like a pretty clear penalty appeal turned down before Ibrahimovic latched onto a Pogba ball to put his side in the lead.
"We are playing really well, match after match. The players were phenomenal today" - @ManUtd boss Jose Mourinho #CRYMUN pic.twitter.com/NewvlLLLAx— Premier League (@premierleague) December 14, 2016
The win allowed United to keep pace with Spurs, who also won, and left Crystal Palace in 16th place.
Crystal Palace: Hennessey; Kelly, Dann, Delaney, Ward; McArthur, Flamini; Zaha, Cabaye, Lee Chung-Yong; Benteke
Manchester United: De Gea; Bailly, Jones, Rojo, Blind; Carrick, Herrera; Rooney, Pogba, Mata; Ibrahimovic
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