Key events
56 min Garnacho, after a quiet spell, races onto a long through ball, but his first touch is more of a back pass to Henderson.
54 min At half-time Phil Jones pointed out that Diogo Dalot was tucking in and playing as a No 6. That seems to be the key to making the Eriksen-Mainoo pivot work: Dalot’s muscular presence frees Mainoo to play his neat little passes and Eriksen to concentrate on being creative. But it still hasn’t brought a goal.
52 min Big chance for United! Fernandes exchanges passes with Zirkzee and finds himself clean through near the penalty spot, but off balance. He hits the ball with the outside of his right boot and can’t quite bend it inside the left-hand post.
51 min United’s umpteenth corner yields only a mishit from the edge of the box by Fernandes.
49 min Chance for United! It’s Amad again, cutting in from the right and curling a shot over Henderson, who gets a hand to it as it’s dipping.
48 min There’s a melée and a handball by Lerma, I think, which brings a United free kick. When they break, Eriksen very nearly plays a great through ball to Amad.
46 min Palace carry on where they left off just before the break. Eze wiggles past three United players and wins a corner.
Subs for Palace! Ismaila Sarr and Jefferson Lerma, replacing Adam Wharton and Jean-Philippe Mateta. So presumably Eddie Nketiah will move into the middle.
Palace are showing the fans their new mascot. She’s an actual eagle, only four months old, called Phoenix.
And here’s Geoff Ashworth. “If Matthijs came from Friesland and played for Galatasaray, he would be the Fries Turkish De Ligt.”
“Garnacho,” says Martin Lancon. “Was that really a yellow? In Crystal Palace half, not dangerous, not a build-up of offences?” It’s a fair point.
Erik ten Hag has a simple decision to make: stick or twist. On past form, he’ll stick for at least 15 minutes, because Garnacho and Zirkzee have been pretty good. But Rashford must be itching to get out there.
HALF-TIME! Palace 0-0 Man United
After only a minute of added time, the whistle goes. For the past two minutes, Palace have been as dangerous as we expected. And although United have played well, they have sweet FA to show for it. The best player has been Dean Henderson, the best attacker Alejandro Garnacho
45 min You wait 44 minutes for a Palace shot, then … Mateta has a go from distance, but Martinez has no trouble blocking it.
Palace have a shot!
44 min Nketiah does well, motoring sideways, holding off Mainoo, and slipping a through ball to Mitchell. His cutback finds Eze, whose crisp low shot draws a first save from Onana.
42 min Save! Henderson tips the ball round the post as Zirkzee gets a flick on a low cross from Fernandes.
41 min Half-chance for Mainoo, in that zone he loves, whence he scored at Wolves. He strikes the ball well but it hits the head of Eriksen, who responds with a wry smile.
40 min A lovely flowing move from United, a series of diagonals from Eriksen at left-half to Amad on the right wing. His backheel releases Fernandes, whose chipped cross floats too close to Henderson.
38 min Wharton takes the corner short, gets the ball back but can’t put his cross past Amad, who takes a blow in a painful place.
38 min Better from Palace, who whip in a free kick and win a corner off the head of Zirkzee.
36 min Garnacho loses the ball on the edge of the area, sprints back to retrieve it, commits a foul and goes into the book.
33 min This time it’s Zirkzee who gets a free header, only to steer it wide. He holds his head in his hands.
32 min United win yet another corner.
31 min United have been so dominant without making it count, they must be about to concede.
30 min When Garnacho’s shot came back off the bar, Bruno Fernandes had a good chance too, but hit it over.
28 min “Evening Mr de Lisle,” says Adam Hirst. “Not sure the United bench is as heavyweight as it should be, but it looks like it could be amongst the most expensive benches in football history. I imagine PSG have had a good go at it, especially any time Neymar or Mbappe started there.” Good call… though Rashford didn’t cost anything.
Garnacho hits the bar!
26 min The best chance yet, and Garnacho should have buried it. Eriksen played a quick blind pass square to Dalot, who chipped a through ball. Garnacho ran onto it and hit it cleanly but just too high.
26 min A caption tells us how the past ten minutes have gone in terms of touches in the opposition box: Palace 4-24 United.
25 min Dean Henderson sees a long ball coming and sails out of his area to head it out. He’s been the player of the match so far.
23 min “United,” says Alan Smith, “have a really firm hand on this contest.” That is what you might call putting it a bit strongly.
21 min A glimmer for the Palace fans as a long ball finds Mateta, so good at running the channels, but his attempted cross just dribbles towards Onana.
18 min Garnacho and Zirkzee get together again but can’t find a tune.
17 min The ball spends some time in midfield, the players scrapping like kids.
14 min Another United corner: Fernandes I think ends up getting a shot in from close range, saved again. And another, but nothing comes of it.
13 min Chance! De Ligt soars into the air at a corner and heads the ball down. Henderson does well to shove it out.
12 min Garnacho and Zirkzee threaten again on the break, but Palace get reinforcements back easily enough.
11 min United can’t do anything with the resulting corner.
10 min Chance! Zirkzee sends a through ball to Garnacho, who races forward with his usual boyish glee. His left-foot shot is well saved by Henderson, tipping it round the post.
7 min Garnacho tries a give-and-go, but Eriksen’s through ball is overhit.
6 min When United finally reach the halfway line, Amad is dispossessed. So far, so scrappy.
5 min United play a bit of walking football at the back.
3 min United win a corner on the right through Amad’s persistence. De Ligt gets his head to it but can only plop the ball into the arms of Henderson.
2 min Mateta is almost through on goal – but he clips Mattijs de Ligt, who goes down rather theatrically and wins a free kick.
1 min Palace kick off and soon win a throw on the left, then go back to Dean Henderson.
The players are out there and so is the evening sun. Palace in their usual red and blue stripes, United in their new third strip – off-white with bits of red and black.
Sky has been having a word with each manager. “We have respect,” says Oliver Glasner, “but we know they will give us space to create chances.” Ouch!
Erik ten Hag gets his own back when, after praising Palace’s aggression, he observes: “They make a lot of tactical fouls.”
Asked whether it was a difficult decision to bench Rashford, he says: “No, it is not a difficult decision. We have to rotate, we have so many games to cover and we have to give Alejandro [Garnacho] games. We’ve seen he has a lot of end product, so many goals and assists, and he has only started one time this season.”
Erik ten Hag’s other surprise comes in midfield. Manuel Ugarte, who started in the Carabao, has to wait for his first league start as Christian Eriksen retains his place. Eriksen was at his gleaming best on Tuesday as the No 10, but when starting in the pivot with Kobbie Mainoo, he has quite a shaky record – won 3, drawn 2, lost 2. And one of those losses was at Selhurst Park in May.
Teams in full
Crystal Palace (probable 3-4-1-2) Henderson; Richards, Guéhi, Lacroix; Munoz, Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell; Eze; Nketiah, Mateta.
Subs: Turner, Ward, Clyne, Hughes, Schlupp, Lerma, Agbinone, Sarr, Umeh-Chibueze.
Manchester United (probable 4-2-3-1) Onana; Mazraoui, De Ligt, Martinez, Dalot; Mainoo, Eriksen; Amad, Fernandes, Garnacho; Zirkzee.
Subs: Bayindir, Maguire, Evans, Ugarte, Casemiro, Mount, Antony, Hojlund, Rashford.
Referee David Coote.
Teams in brief: Wharton back for Palace
No surprises from Oliver Glasner as Adam Wharton, so impressive in Palace’s late charge last season, returns to the pivot after getting a night off against QPR. Eddie Nketiah, who once overcame United almost singlehandedly for Arsenal, starts up front next to Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Teams in brief: Rashford benched!
Well this is a surprise. Marcus Rashford, who has three goals in his last game and a half, is dropped to the bench. Amad returns on the right, Alejandro Garnacho keeps his place on the left after being involved in four of the seven goals against Barnsley, and Joshua Zirkzee is back as the No.9-and-a-half. Maybe Rashford has a niggle, or maybe this is why Erik ten Hag was talking about him needing to be resilient.
In better news for United fans, Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund are both fit enough to be among the subs. It all adds up to a heavyweight bench.
Preamble
Afternoon everyone and welcome to an intriguing rematch. Five months ago Manchester United went to Selhurst Park and lost 4-0. It was their lowest ebb of last season, which was saying something. For Oliver Glasner’s Palace, it was part of a golden end to 2023-24 – six wins in their last seven games, including one at Anfield.
Teams that finish one season strongly are supposed to start the next well too, but Palace have proved an exception to the rule. Michael Olise has moved to Munich and seems to have taken their attacking flair with him (he scored twice today). His old mates have won none of their first four league games and in the table this morning they were level with two of the promoted clubs, Leicester and Ipswich. But Palace are usually hard to beat at home and all the more so in the evening, when the home fans make their presence felt.
United rebounded well from that embarrassment in May, beating Newcastle and Brighton, then somehow stealing the FA Cup from Man City. But this season they have been as patchy as ever – beaten at Brighton, humbled at home by Liverpool, unconvincing at Southampton until André Onana saved a penalty. Since that Sliding Doors moment, they have scored ten goals and conceded none, with Marcus Rashford scoring three and suddenly resembling his old self, and the fans daring to hope that Erik ten Hag’s under-performers have finally turned a corner. This evening will tell.
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