Until Jean-Philippe Mateta stops scoring, there is going to be no stopping Crystal Palace’s week-by-week rise up the Premier League table.

Still in the relegation zone back in late October, Palace have now clambered above Manchester United and into 12th place.

They did so courtesy of Sunday’s thoroughly deserved 2-0 win at Old Trafford, which has become a happy hunting ground for the Eagles of late — four Palace wins in their last six visits to the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ a difficult reality for United to have to accept.

Mateta now has six goals in his last five outings for the Eagles, and his afternoon put into brutal perspective United’s own struggles up front. Ruben Amorim felt so unconvinced by Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee that he started without either, and without a striker at all. Neither man did anything once they came on.

Mateta did plenty. After 64 minutes, he prodded Palace into the lead from under the crossbar after Maxence Lacroix’s header came back off the woodwork.

Then, with a minute of normal time remaining, the electric Ismaila Sarr measured an inch-perfect ball through United’s static and erratic backline. Daniel Munoz and Mateta bore down on Andre Onana’s goal. The Colombian squared, Mateta rammed home. Job done, with United heading “down with Southampton”, or so the Palace faithful chanted.

Palace arrived in Manchester on the back of four wins from their last five league games away from home. Make that five from six. No surprise Glasner’s men were so full of confidence, then, ahead of facing Amorim’s spluttering side, even if the Eagles had lost to Brentford last weekend in a home match that had halted their own strong form. Ruthlessly back to winning ways now.

Alejandro Garnacho came close and Kobbie Mainoo struck the foot of the post in the opening six minutes, but almost from that moment on, it was Eagles who had the ascendency, who looked better drilled, and whose passing sequences were crisper.

Steve Parish and Mark Bright were watching on from the stands and will be braced for a busy transfer deadline day at Copers Cope Road on Monday, but those already at the club delivered a performance to be proud of — apart, in truth, from Daichi Kamada, who left a frustrated Glasner shaking his head on the sidelines with his poor first touches and subdued energy levels.

Eberechi Eze had trained in full - and trained well - on Saturday, so Palace changed tack at the last moment and did bring the injury doubt with them after all. It was to no one’s surprise that, on the hour mark, the subpar Kamada was withdrawn and Eze brought on.

Eze’s first touch was the deftly lofted free-kick delivery from which Mateta scored the opener. And there was even time for Adam Wharton to enter the fray on 88 minutes for his first appearance in almost 100 days, drawing a raucous reaction from the travelling fans. It was that kind of afternoon for the Eagles: one in which almost everything went right.