Ten-men United hang on against to win against Palace

Manchester United had to suffer a nervous end to the game but managed to hang on for all three points after Casemiro’s red card.

After booking a Carabao Cup final place midweek, United enjoyed a fast start at Old Trafford with Bruno Fernandes scoring from the penalty spot in the seventh minute.

Marcus Rashford’s attempted cross from the left was blocked by the hand of Will Hughes. Referee Andre Marriner had missed the incident but was summoned to the VAR screen. From the resulting penalty, Fernandes coolly sent Vicente Guaita the wrong way.

Wout Weghorst, starting ahead of Anthony Martial who picked up another injury, had a great chance to make it 2-0 shortly afterwards when his looping header from a Luke Shaw corner was stopped by Guaita.

Palace offered little going forward in the first part but did grow into the game during the second period.

However, United made it 2-0 with just over an hour gone when Shaw’s low ball found the in-form Rashford to slot home from close range.

It looked like that goal would set up a relaxing end to the game for the Red Devils, that was until Casemiro was given a straight red card. A scuffle started between the two sets of players after a challenge on Anthony.

Not much was made of it until VAR notified Marriner of a potential red card when during the bust-up, Casemiro was shown with his hands around the neck of Hughes giving the referee no choice but to send the Brazilian off in the 70th minute.

Just over five minutes later Palace had pulled one back thanks to a clever, instinctive flicked finish from Jeffrey Schlupp as the ball bounced in the United box.

The officiating managed to annoy both managers eventually, highlighted by Bruno Fernandes going down after colliding with the referee. Palace were breaking at that point but Marriner had to stop the game much to the visitors’ annoyance.

United eventually managed to hang on though and did well to grind down seven minutes of stoppage time as Palace desperately pushed for a late equaliser.

xG: Manchester United (2.13) 2-1 (1.30) Crystal Palace 

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— Manchester United (@ManUtd) February 4, 2023