Manchester United suffered their fourth loss of the Premier League season thanks to Joachim Andersen’s superb strike for Crystal Palace.
These two teams were meeting for the second time in five days; this was after Man United’s comfortably 3-0 win over the Eagles in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.
But on Saturday, Palace produced a spirited performance away from home to avenge their loss.
United dominated possession throughout the game but did not create many clear openings. Rasmus Hojlund’s effort got cleared off the line by Tyrick Mitchell in the 12th minute by far the closest they came to scoring.
After Hojlund’s chance, Palace took the lead when Anderson superbly oozed a first-time effort into the top corner following Eze’s free-kick which wasn’t cleared by United’s defense.
After going down, Manchester United pilled pressure on their opposition, but Palace held on reasonably to withstand the Red Devils.
The Eagles’ defense including goalkeeper Sam Johnstone were in superb form as they made United struggle to find a way through. Johnstone made two crucial saves in the second half to make sure Palace won the game, first by parrying away Bruno Fernandes’ effort before pushing away Hojlund’s ferocious header.
Aside from the goal, Palace’s other goalscoring opportunity fell to Will Hughes, but the midfielder put his effort just so close to Andre Onana.
With today’s defeat, Erik Ten Hag’s side have now suffered four defeats in their seven Premier League games this season, and this is their worst start to a season in 34 years.
They now drop to 10th position on the log with only nine points, two below Palace who now move a place above United in ninth.
