Report and reaction: Ten man Man Utd hold on against dogged Palace

Refresh this page periodically for the latest reaction from Old Trafford.

Summary:

• Vieira makes three changes, with Clyne, Hughes and Olise returning to the side.
• Hughes is penalised for handball early on, and Fernandes tucks home the penalty.
• Guaita saves superbly, first from Weghorst and then Rashford.
• HT: Man Utd 1-0 Palace
• Rashford doubles Man Utd's lead
• Casemiro is sent off after a lengthy VAR review
• Schlupp brings Palace back into the game.
• FT: Man Utd 2-1 Palace

It was the kind of start Patrick Vieira will have been dreading, as Man Utd were handed a golden chance to take the lead after just five minutes. It was a fairly innocuous attack, but as Marcus Rashford aimed a delivery into the penalty area it struck the outstretched arm of Will Hughes.

The referee initially waved away the protests, but VAR intervened and a penalty was awarded; Bruno Fernandes tucked away in signature style.

With the momentum behind them United continued to threaten and Guaita was called into action, producing a wonderful save to deny Wout Weghorst from a corner, before blocking from Rashford moments later.

Palace had their own forays forward, and Michael Olise saw his effort blocked before Chris Richards headed over the crossbar from the subsequent corner.

The Eagles emerged after the break with renewed vigour, and suddenly the chances were beginning to appear. First Edouard drove forwards, denied by a late Martinez challenge, before Jeff Schlupp’s wonderful piece of skill created a crossing opportunity, but no one could tap home.

Palace were unable to capitalise, and soon Man Utd doubled their lead. It was an intricate passing move, with Garnacho releasing Shaw and the England left-back prodding across the face of goal for Rashford to poke home.

Then the game roared into life. A melee on the touchline sparked a lengthy VAR review, which resulted in a straight red card for Casemiro. Palace were handed a lifeline – and they took it.

Bodies were pouring forwards every time a man in white won possession, and Guéhi was denied by a point-blank De Gea save. There were to be no defensive heroics moments later, as Schlupp was the first to react to bring the Eagles back into the game.

It set up a grandstand finish that was soaked in controversy, noise and colour – and Palace pushed for all their might. Seven added minutes only added to the sense of chaos. This was old school Premier League football.

In the end, United held on by the skin of their teeth – Palace came so close, but couldn't get over the line.

Man Utd: De Gea (GK), Wan-Bissaka (Lindelof, 87), Martinez, Varane, Shaw, Casemiro, Fred, Fernandes, Rashford, Weghorst (Garnacho, 59 (Maguire, 87)), Antony (Sabitzer, 81).

Subs: Heaton (GK), Malacia, Dalot, Sancho, Mainoo.

Palace: Guaita (GK), Clyne, Guéhi, Richards, Mitchell, Doucouré (Ahamada, 82), Hughes (Lokonga, 72), Schlupp (Mateta, 83), Olise, Edouard, Ayew (Eze, 72).

Subs: Johnstone (GK), Whitworth (GK), Tomkins, Milivojevic, Riedewald.

Vieira: We must be more clinical

18:15

Patrick Vieira says his side must learn to be more clinical in their decision-making, as the Eagles came close to overturning a two-goal Manchester United lead at Old Trafford.

“We had situations, we had a couple of chances with Ebs [Eze] in the box, with JP [Mateta], but it wasn’t consistent,” he said in his post-match press conference. “The kind of dominance we had when we were 11 v 10, there was a little bit of frustration because with the decision making, better quality we could score that second goal.

“It is composure, that second goal – that’s part of making that decision in the final third.”

The manager was pleased with the attitude of his players despite the result, but was left ruing their inability to score a crucial second goal.

“I think we showed character,” he said. “I was disappointed with the start of the first-half. We defended well, we were well organised but when we won the ball we couldn’t combine. We lost the ball too much in the first-half and it was better in the second-half.

“We tried to go wider [after the red card] and tried to have crosses and more people inside the box.  But I think our decision making in the last third wasn’t the best. It was a tough game even [against] 10 men. We are talking about a team with quite a lot of experience who can manage those situations.

“We are not winning games and we don’t score enough goals. We need to score goals to allow us to win games. This is something we have to improve.”

Full-time

90+9 mins

That’s it – Palace came so close to a remarkable comeback, but it’s Man Utd who claim the three points.

Stay tuned for reaction.

90+8 mins

STILL we play on.

Palace are coming forwards – but it’s offside!

90+5 mins

Palace are still pushing, United are still resisting.

The seconds are ticking down.

90+1 mins

We will have seven (yes, SEVEN) additional minutes.

Strap in.

90 mins

Goodness me, this is a game full of controversy. Old Trafford is in uproar as Sabitzer challenges Lokonga, and a free-kick is awarded.

It’s cleared, but it means the Eagles have possession and the breakaway is averted.

88 mins

Palace have a free-kick on the edge of the area.

It's nodded back across goal and Mateta is there, but Fernandes does enough to put him off and he heads over the top...

Substitution

86 mins

Two more changes for United as Maguire and Lindelof are on as defensive reinforcements.

Substitution

81 mins

Vieira makes two more changes, with Ahamada coming on for his debut alongside Mateta.

Substitution

81 mins

Off comes Antony, on comes new-man Marcel Sabitzer.

80 mins

Here’s a new one – the referee has penalised himself. Bruno takes a knock to the head from Andre Marriner and the game is stopped with Palace on the break.

Vieira is not pleased.

GOAL!

Man Utd 2-1 Palace (Schlupp)

77 mins

Palace are back in it!

It’s Jeff Schlupp, stabbing home from Mitchell’s miscued effort. We have a grandstand finish on our hands here.

76 mins

What a save!

Olise wins a corner for Palace, in front of the visiting fans. The delivery is an absolute peach, and Marc Guéhi rises highest to power a header goalwards but De Gea punches away.

74 mins

Palace having all of the possession now. This could be some final 20 minutes...

Substitutions

72 mins

Vieira reacts to that red card, introducing Ebere Eze and Sambi Lokonga – for his debut – in place of Ayew and Hughes.

Red card

69 mins

Casemiro is off!

Both hands placed on the neck of Will Hughes and it’s a straight red.

Now then!

Yellow card

67 mins

Ooooh tensions are boiling over. Schlupp goes in hard on Antony and an almighty melee breaks out.

It takes the referee some time to sort it out, but Schlupp and Antony are both carded.

There is a check for a red card here...

GOAL

Man Utd 2-0 Palace (Rashford)

62 mins

A spell of possession for the hosts results in a second goal, after they find a way to break down a stubborn Palace defence.

It’s an intricate move across the edge of the penalty area, as the newly introduced Garnacho evades two challenges to find Shaw, who drills into the six-yard box for Rashford to tuck home.

A mountain for Palace to climb now, but plenty of time remains.

Substitution

59 mins

Man Utd make the first change, with Erik ten Hag reshuffling his attack. Off comes Wout Weghorst, and on comes teenager Alejandro Garnacho in his place.

Chance

56 mins

Man Utd close to doubling their lead. Fernandes’ wonderful cross-field pass is brought down by Rashford, who cuts inside but drives over the crossbar.

54 mins

Palace momentum is building!

Jeff Schlupp’s flick takes him past Casemiro and he drills the ball across the face of goal – Martinez gets enough on it to avert the danger.

52 mins

Whatever Vieira said at half-time, it has clearly worked.

Palace look far more confident, and race forwards again to win a corner.

49 mins

Decent opening for Palace early on.

It’s Edouard who finds space in behind, and he takes on Lisandro Martinez. He makes good progress initially, but the Argentinian recovers well and clears.

Promising for the visitors.

Kick-off

46 mins

We’re ready to get underway in the second-half, and the Eagles have 45 minutes to get back into this one.

COME ON PALACE!

Half-time

45+3 mins

That’s the break – a frustrating opening period for Palace who grew into the game but were punished by that early penalty call.

Yellow card

45+2 mins

Tyrick Mitchell is in the book for a challenge on Antony.

Free-kick to Man Utd...

...it's a dangerous ball, nodded behind for a corner.

45+1 mins

Two minutes of additional time indicated by the referee.

Chance!

42 mins

Almost smash and grab from Palace!

Forward comes Jeff Schlupp on the break and he lets fly, forcing De Gea to parry away before it nestles in the bottom corner.

The Eagles are finishing the first-half strongly.

39 mins

Can Palace find a way back level before half-time? They have a corner.

It's a decent ball in too, but Richards gets underneath it and it misses the target.

Chance

36 mins

Weghorst’s delivery into the near-post is directed goalwards by Fred, but is narrowly wide.

33 mins

Here come Palace again.

A slip from Wan-Bissaka allows Tyrick Mitchell to race into space and release Olise in the area, but his shot is blocked. Mitchell tries to dig out a deliver to the far post, but De Gea is there to claim.

27 mins

A glimpse of the talent coming out the Palace Academy as Wan-Bissaka shows immense composure to round two defenders, but his cross is blocked.

Man Utd win it back and Fernandes slips in Rashford, whose effort is blocked by Guaita. From the resulting corner Antony tries an effort on his less-favoured right foot, which is saved by the Spaniard.

23 mins

Another free-kick for Palace just inside the Man Utd half. There are a few opportunities presenting themselves from set-pieces.

It’s played in early by Olise looking for the run of Guéhi, but De Gea comes out and claims.

17 mins

Better from the visitors. A free-kick is only half-cleared to Olise, who strikes but hits Fernandes. Palace still have it in the Man Utd half.

13 mins

What a save!

Shaw’s looping corner finds Weghorst who nods goalwards, but Guaita somehow gets a palm to the ball to scoop it out from under the crossbar.

10 mins

Palace are having to weather an early storm, as Wan-Bissaka’s dangerous cross narrowly evades Weghorst and Guéhi clears.

GOAL

Man Utd 1-0 Palace (Bruno)

7 mins

Early breakthrough for United and it comes from the spot.

Bruno Fernandes’ trademark stop-start run-up sends Guaita the wrong way, and now Palace must come from behind.

6 mins

The referee heads over to the monitor, and points to the spot. Penalty to Man Utd.

Will Hughes the man penalised – his arm was high but the cross came from close by.

4 mins

The corner is cleared, and now Man Utd have possession.

They work the ball forwards, and Rashford’s cross strikes Will Hughes on the arm.

VAR is having a look…

2 mins

Promising start for Palace as they win a free-kick on the edge of the area. Casemiro clears, but only for a corner.

Kick-off

1 min

We’re underway at Old Trafford – COME ON, PALACE!

14:55

The two teams are out, with the two managers bearing wreaths.

14:50

There will be a one-minute silence before kick-off to commemorate those lost in the Munich Air Disaster, which took place 65 years ago on 6th February, 1958 and claimed the lives of eight Manchester United players and 15 others.

Crystal Palace reached out to support Man Utd after the tragedy, and funded a stained-glass tribute to Duncan Edwards in his home town of Dudley. You can find out more HERE.

14:30

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand was Patrick Vieira’s adversary on the pitch, but he plenty of admiration for the way the Frenchman is going about things in south London.

“I love what Patrick Vieira stands for and what he is doing there,” Ferdinand told cpfc.co.uk. “The style of football – he has changed it.

“You see the profile of players here and you go: “I enjoy watching these”. There’s style and substance, a blending of youth and experience. He had quite a lot to do when he came here in terms of the profile of players, player leaving and so that’s great work by him and his recruitment team.

“Palace is always a game where if they came up on Match of the Day, you wouldn’t turn it off.”

Ferdinand has fond memories of playing at Selhurst Park – and playing against Patrick Vieira, whose fighting characteristics he is beginning to see reflected in this Palace side.

“I used to love playing there,” he remembers. “Obviously it was south London so it was like coming home. I used to get loads of tickets. We used to have quite a big space for the Man Utd fans.

“It was always loud but our away fans used to travel really well, so it was always a good game. Tough games – we always expected a tough game there.

“The only thing that is different [in this Palace team] is that they don’t have the consistency Patrick Vieira had. Patrick Vieira was elite in terms of consistency and performance.

“That never switched on and off, he was on always. I'm sure he will want that to be reflected in his team, but the project here is in the very early stages. You can see there are snippets of his characteristics in this team.”

For a side full of young players, Ferdinand has the same advice that he stuck to during his early years in the Premier League.

“Expect the unexpected – it is unpredictable,” he says. “But also work hard. You can’t recreate the wheel with this kind of thing, you can’t come with some new advice that is really ground breaking.

“Stick to old school stuff. Roll your sleeves up, keeping working hard, be honest with what you do and if you keep working hard on the training field you will get your luck on the pitch.”

We ask Ferdinand a final question: how many will Palace win by at Old Trafford?

He smiles.

“Interview over.”

Edouard: We have come here to win

14:20

Odsonne Edouard says Palace, having shown they can compete with an in-form Manchester United team in recent weeks, will travel to Old Trafford aiming to do the same again.

The French forward, who started in January’s 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park, recognises the scale of the challenge ahead of Palace on Saturday, but also feels that his team can improve still further on their recent performances.

Edouard said: “Manchester United are a big team. They’re a team who are fighting for the title this year so it will be a challenging game and a hard game, especially away.

“We played against them a few weeks ago, and I think we played well. We managed to get a result and we will go there for another result – we’ll go there to win the game.

“[Scoring late last time] won’t give us more confidence, no, because every game is different, but like last time, we go there with one objective: to get a result. That’s it.”

The 25-year-old also hopes that his team can build on collectively strong displays in their last two outings: solid draws against title-chasing sides in Manchester and Newcastle United.

Edouard added: “If you want to have a positive result, you have to be strong as a team.

“We don’t want to concede goals. When we do concede, we then want to concede fewer goals. It can help to get some great results, but to win football matches, you have to be strong defensively and offensively.

“I think if we can keep going like we have done in the last two games, we’ll have the chance to win some games, and to finish in the top ten.”

Team news

14:00

The lineups are in, and Patrick Vieira has made three changes to his side for the visit to Old Trafford, with new signings Sambi Lokonga and Naouirou Ahamada in line for debuts from the substitutes bench.

It has been a two weeks since the Eagles’ last Premier League outing against Newcastle, and Vieira has responded by shuffling his pack.

In defence, Nathaniel Clyne replaces Joel Ward, while Marc Guéhi and Chris Richards continue their burgeoning centre-back partnership.

Will Hughes returns to the midfield alongside Cheick Doucouré and Jeff Schlupp, while Michael Olise starts alongside Odsonne Edouard and Jordan Ayew in attack.

Ahamada and Lokonga are available from the bench, as well as attacking reinforcements Ebere Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta.

For Manchester United, ex-Palace man Aaron Wan-Bissaka starts in defence, while the in-form Marcus Rashford is alongside Wout Weghorst and Antony in attack.

Man Utd: De Gea (GK), Wan-Bissaka, Martinez, Varane, Shaw, Casemiro, Fred, Fernandes, Rashford, Weghorst, Antony.

Subs: Heaton (GK), Lindelof, Maguire, Malacia, Sabitzer, Dalot, Sancho, Garnacho, Mainoo.

Palace: Guaita (GK), Clyne, Guéhi, Richards, Ward, Doucouré, Hughes, Schlupp, Olise, Edouard, Ayew.

Subs: Johnstone (GK), Whitworth (GK), Tomkins, Milivojevic, Riedewald, Ahamada, Lokonga, Eze, Mateta.

13:45

13:30

It was a busy final day for Crystal Palace as two new midfielders arrived in south London: Albert Sambi Lokonga and Naouirou Ahamada. Could we see a debut at Old Trafford this afternoon?

“I’m really pleased with the two players that we managed to bring,” Vieira said in his pre-match press conference. “It’s a different profile to what we have and that will give me a different option in the games. Both of them will be in the squad tomorrow.

“Ahamada is really mobile, running in behind, stretching the opposition team. His intensity and work on the field is really good and that is what I am really pleased that we brought him into the football club.

“[Lokonga] has experience of knowing the Premier League. He has got technical ability to play well and to improve our play. I still believe that there is more to come from him, because he is capable of running in behind and getting involved in the opposition box. His mobility and strength will help us.

“What is important is for him to get more involved and play more games. We will give him that opportunity. Of course, he will have to work hard to deserve to get that space. But he believes that this was the right decision for the next step for his career, and we will work with him and improve him like we did with a couple of other players we had on loan.”

You can read Vieira’s full pre-match thoughts by clicking HERE.

Team news is just half an hour away...

13:20

Speaking of great goals, Palace’s own Goal of the Month competition is up and running – make sure you check out these great strikes and get your vote in now!

Last meeting

13:10

Getting déjà vu? It’s not been long since we last played Manchester United, just three weeks ago at Selhurst Park.

You may remember Michael Olise scoring a decent goal that night. Well it has just been voted as the Premier League’s Goal of the Month.

Relive it again here:

Welcome to Old Trafford

13:00

This is the Theatre of Dreams.

At least it has been for Crystal Palace in recent years. Two wins in their last three visits to Manchester United and seeking a third today, but facing a side full of confidence having won their last 12 home games.

Can the Eagles strike another blow against one of the league’s in-form sides?

Stay with us for all the build-up, action and reaction this afternoon.