Manchester United’s nine-game winning run came to an end tonight after a dramatic last-minute equaliser from Crystal Palace saw the Red Devils draw 1-1 at Selhurst Park.Â
While Manchester United certainly dominated possession for most of the first half and looked the more likely to score they struggled to create any real clear-cut chances. A lobbed effort from Brazilian winger Antony and a tame header from new signing Wout Weghorst was the best Erik Ten Hag’s side could muster.
Then, very much against the run of play, Crystal Palace almost took the lead five minutes before the break when Odsonne Eduoard forced David de Gea into a superb finger-tip save with a powerful effort from the edge of the area.
That effort from Eduoard seemed to shock United into action and they would take the lead through their skipper Bruno Fernandes in the 43rd minute. Marcus Rashford played in Christian Eriksen down the left and when the Danish playmaker cut it back to his fellow midfielder, Bruno took a touch before clinically firing a curling effort into the right-hand corner of the goal.
The second period took a familiar pattern with United dominating the ball but struggling to penetrate the Palace backline. On 70 minutes the Red Devils seemed to have a decent shout for a penalty when substitute Scott McTominay was taken down in the area by American centre-back Chris Richards, although VAR decided no foul took place.
De Gea would then have to be at his very best once again on 75 minutes when he showed brilliant reflexes to stop a Marc Guehi header with a one-handed save.
Penalty or no penalty? 🤔 #CRYMUN pic.twitter.com/tY98t6Wn1N
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) January 18, 2023
Man United fans around the globe were then left holding their head in their hands when influential midfielder Casemiro was shown a deserved yellow card for taking down Wilfried Zaha, meaning the former Real Madrid man will be suspended for Sunday’s away trip to Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Things would get even worse for the Old Trafford outfit in injury time when Palace attacker Michael Olise curled a worldie of a free kick into the top corner from 25 yards to hand Palace a point and bring an end to Ten Hag’s side’s much-publicised winning run.
Despite moving up to third in the table with the point United captain Fernandes admitted him and his teammates were bitterly disappointed to concede so late and suggested they could have killed the game off earlier.
“We knew it’s tough to play here,” Bruno told Sky Sports. ”We could have lost the game. We’re not happy with a draw. We should have taken our chances and closed the game. They scored a great goal at the end. Nothing we can do now.
“We have to look forward now. Other games are coming. We’re still doing good things.
“We’re really disappointed with the result but the next one is close. We have to prepare the game. Not too much time to recover.”
