Crystal Palace 1-3 Manchester United: Lukaku nets brace in frantic win

Romelu Lukaku’s scored twice to help grab all three points for in-form Manchester United over Crystal Palace on a busy night in South London

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s long injury list meant he was forced into three as Fred, Diogo Dalot and Alexis Sanchez were given rare starts on a night when despite some ‘pundits’ claiming the game should have been postponed because of United’s packed treatment room the game still, amazingly, went ahead. It was less than a year ago that this very fixture also incredibly proceeded despite Palace having 10 players out.

Roy Hodgson doesn’t like making changes to his line-up but he was also forced into one as Mamadou Sakho’s knee injury picked up in Saturday’s 4-1 win at Leicester looks to have potentially ruled him out until the end of the season. Martin Kelly replaced him alongside James Tomkins in central defence.

Palace were still waiting fo their first ever Premier League victory over the Red Devils, their last league win coming way back in 1991, although there was an iconic victory at Old Trafford in 2011 when Dougie Freedman’s Championship side upset the odds against Paul Pogba, Dimitar Berbatov and co thanks to a Darren Ambrose thunderbolt from 35 yards.

Vicente Guaita was nearly punished for a rush of blood to the head after five minutes when he came to meet Dalot’s long ball but misjudged it and allowed Romelu Lukaku to steal in but the Belgian’s header was aimless and Kelly cleared with ease to let his team-mate off the hook.

Lukaku should have opened the score three minutes later when he was given the freedom of Thornton Heath by Tomkins but could only volley Luke Shaw’s corner over the bar from about six yards out. It was a huge let off for the Eagles who started slowly. It was then Palace’s turn to miss a decent chance as Andros Townsend fired over from James McArthur’s cross from about the same distance out as Lukaku, only from a tighter angle.

The atmosphere under the Selhurst Park lights was electric as per (and from the away end it must be said) with home fans showing incredible commitment to a grudge as they booed Ashley Young’s every touch for a dive against them over five and a half years prior. That sort of top level pettiness simply cannot be underestimated.

Townsend flashed another shot wide during a period of pressure for Palace but it was United who opened the scoring down the other end. Luke Shaw was allowed to gallop forward and into the box where he fed Lukaku who made it third time lucky and curled into the far corner past a rooted Guaita.

Palace should have been on level terms almost immediately as Townsend floated a lovely ball to the back post where Jeffrey Schlupp rose unchallenged but could only flick the ball wide. The home side rallied for the final 15 minutes before the break but couldn’t find any clearcut chances.

Lukaku doubled the lead shortly after the break when he capitalised on some slack Palace defending from a corner to loop the ball over Guaita and in. It was a disappointing goal to concede from the home side’s perspective, but that didn’t stop them coming back at their visitors.

They chucked everything on getting back into the game and did just that when Joel Ward spectacularly headed in Schlupp’s cross and it looked like they might salvage a draw. Zaha headed wide at the back post while substitute Max Meyer drilled a few effort wide.

However it wasn’t to be as Young got revenge against all those boos by drilling in a late third to wrap up all three points for United to continue their incredible run resurgence under Solskjaer.