The lowdown on Manchester United 0 Crystal Palace 2 – Mateta cementing his place as one of the best strikers in the league after United brace

BY ADAM SELLS

Crystal Palace secured their fifth Premier League win in seven seasons at Old Trafford through a second-half Jean-Philippe Mateta brace on Sunday.

Oliver Glasner’s men ran out deserved winners as they put a sorry Manchester United to the sword, capitalising on the home side’s vulnerability in emphatic fashion.

How the mighty have fallen. Long have the days gone when a trip of this kind struck fear into opponents. Instead, Palace looked comfortable and dangerous throughout, finally making taking a couple of the chances created against a very apprehensive back line, which was mirrored in the stands.

Here is the lowdown on the match:

THE LINE-UPS

Manchester United: Onana, Mazraoui (Zirkzee 70), Martinez (De Ligt 82), Maguire, Yoro, Dalot, Ugarte (Eriksen 87), Fernandes, Garnacho, Amad, Mainoo (Hojlund 70).

Subs not used: Harrison, Bayindir, Lindelof, Casemiro, Collyer.

Palace: Henderson, Munoz, Richards, Lacroix, Guehi, Mitchell (Clyne 88), Lerma, Hughes (Wharton 88), Sarr (Devenny 96), Kamada (Eze 61), Mateta.

Subs not use: Turner, Kporha, Schlupp, Esse, Nketiah.

SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME

Jean-Philippe Mateta continued his rich vein of form, netting twice from close range. In truth, he won’t have scored many easier ones than his ninth and tenth ones.

The first came after Maxence Lacroix’s looping header had come back off the bar. His second was another tap in after Daniel Munoz had squared the ball across the face of the goal, after being sent clear by a clever ball from Ismaila Sarr.

TACTICAL APPROACH

Glasner set up with his trusted 3-4-2-1 and made just one enforced change following last week’s lacklustre home defeat to Brentford, with Daichi Kamada replacing Eberechi Eze, who was nursing a foot injury.

The England international was able to take a place on the bench and produced a decent cameo after coming on.

STAR MAN

You can’t look past Mateta right now. His transformation as a player over the past 12 to 15 months has been incredible. He is without question one the best in the league and his value to Palace is huge.

There will be no doubt admiring glances in his direction with two and half years left on his current deal, but his must now be an £80m striker.

BEST MOMENT

A tremendous lung-busting run in the first half that took him almost the length of the pitch. Though his hold-up play and heading has improved hugely, he shows a real level of pace and skill for a big man.

MOAN OF THE MATCH

There was not too much to be unhappy with from a Palace perspective. Perhaps in the first period, they were a little sloppy in the final third with the final pass when in good situations.

They were a little slow out of the blocks in both halves and were indebted to Dean Henderson for a couple of important saves after the break. Palace conceded a number of set plays in their own half, which allowed their hosts to load the box.

TALKING POINTS DOWN THE PUB

The aforementioned Eze’s post-match walk to the tunnel alone, as his team-mates celebrated in front of the fans was a cause of concern.

The skilful forward may have had an issue with his injured foot, but has received quite a lot of unjust criticism of late from sections of the fan base of late and you must wonder whether that has played a part?

The South London lad’s happy nature is usually very evident and let’s hope there is nothing more to it and he is back smiling for the visit of Everton in the middle of the month.

Glasner confirmed afterwards that he will rest Eze for the FA Cup tie at Doncaster in order to allow his foot injury to clear up.

WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY

“The first 10 minutes and the first 10 minutes of the second half, Man United had too many set-plays and they had two or three chances where Dean Henderson had to make one or two big saves.

“It’s normal when you have periods in the game at Old Trafford where you have to struggle. But everything else was how we expected it. We encouraged the players to stick to the plan and to keep the belief – we will get our moments and situations.

“The players did it until the end and waited for the decisive moments.

“We scored an opener with a set-play and then it was an excellent second goal.

“The effort was amazing today and that’s why we deserved to win today.”

PICTURES: ALAMY