This was an afternoon of defiance in the stands from the home supporters and on the pitch from the magician wearing the captain’s armband.
The dissent from the Manchester United fans came in the form of a banner unveiled next to the tunnel which read: “MUFC proudly colonised by immigrants” above images of some of United’s most successful foreign imports, such as Eric Cantona, Bruno Fernandes and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The target of the fans’ ire, of course, was the United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who sparked fury in some sections of the fan base — and the country — last month by claiming that Britain is being “colonised by immigrants”.
The defiance on the pitch was demonstrated by Fernandes. When United were at their lowest ebb after a drab first half, the captain was the man who led the comeback, starting the move that led — after a long VAR break — to him scoring the penalty that cancelled out Maxence Lacroix’s opener and teeing up Benjamin Sesko’s bullet header with a superb cross.
United fans unfurl a banner whose sentiments were a riposte to Ratcliffe’s comments last month
MARTIN RICKETT/PA
When Lacroix had put Palace ahead after four minutes, he was a popular figure among the away fans, but his currency plummeted when he was sent off for pulling back Matheus Cunha 11 minutes into the second half.
The tug on Cunha’s shirt began outside the box and carried on inside the area, where the forward hit the turf. Under the laws of the game, if a defender pulls a shirt inside the box, it is a penalty, even if the action started outside the area, so Chris Kavanagh pointed to the spot. As he felt that Cunha was being denied a goalscoring opportunity, he sent the Palace defender off too.
Lacroix’s story was a classic one of hero to zero; having put Palace ahead, above, his foul and red card allowed United back into the game, below
STU FORSTER/GETTY IMAGES
“It’s a harsh decision, the wrong decision,” Oliver Glasner, the Palace manager, said. “It’s maybe a little bit the Old Trafford bounce.”
Palace will perhaps look back on the first 40 minutes with regret. Despite playing in Europe on Thursday, they were well on top against a United team that played as badly in the first half as they did under Ruben Amorim, but Glasner’s team were unable to build a substantial lead. Thanks to Sesko’s superb header — on his return to the starting XI — after Fernandes’s penalty, United maintained their unbeaten record under Michael Carrick and moved up to third in the Premier League table for the first time since May 2023.
After dropping only two points in seven games, Carrick is doing his chances of landing the job long-term no harm at all.
Fernandes was behind much of United’s good work at Old Trafford, scoring from the penalty spot and then setting up the winner
RICHARD SELLERS/SPORTSPHOTO/ALLSTAR VIA GETTY IMAGES
“It’s nice obviously,” he said when asked about the fans singing his name post-match. “This place means a lot to me. It’s nice to have so much positivity.”
Earlier, it took only four minutes for any pre-match optimism to evaporate. Palace’s opener was as soft as they come. Brennan Johnson chipped a flat delivery into the box from a corner and Lacroix peeled away to the back post and shrugged off a weak challenge from Leny Yoro, giving himself enough time and space to direct his header across goal and into the back of Senne Lammens’s goal via a post.
Yoro’s lack of physicality has been his Achilles heel since joining United — Lisandro Martínez and Harry Maguire are far more sturdy — and the Frenchman’s critics will be out in numbers again after his efforts here.
Yoro looked shaken, as did his team-mates. Ismaïla Sarr ran on to Daniel Muñoz’s pass before firing a rising shot at Lammens. It was like old times again for United. Cunha ran into blind alleys, Diogo Dalot gave the ball away twice, Shaw had to be replaced by Noussair Mazraoui because of illness. Palace moved the ball slickly, although they were helped by United’s barely existent press.
The green shoots of recovery for United started to show as half-time approached, and Fernandes was at the heart of the resurgence. The captain swung two deep crosses to the back post, but neither Sesko nor Casemiro could beat Dean Henderson.
Sesko celebrates his winner as his blistering form for United continued against Palace
JASON CAIRNDUFF/REUTERS
After United had won a free kick on the edge of the box, Fernandes curled a swirling effort over the wall and towards goal, but Henderson tipped it over.
United continued to up the pressure at the start of the second half. Adam Wharton and Jaydee Canvot put in decisive blocks to keep them at bay, but with United’s next attack, Palace buckled. Fernandes again was at the heart of the move, sliding a cutting ball down the inside-left channel for Cunha to run on to.
Lacroix started to yank Cunha back outside the area but he continued to pull his shoulder back as he entered the box and the Brazil forward collapsed in a heap. Kavanagh initially decided against sending the defender off but after consulting his VAR and the pitch-side monitor, he dismissed Lacroix.
Fernandes sent Henderson the wrong way with a low, powerful spot kick, some four minutes after the penalty had been awarded.
Eight minutes after equalising, United took the lead. When Canvot hooked a delivery clear, he thought the danger had passed, but his clearance landed at the feet of Fernandes, who cushioned the ball and measured an outswinging cross towards the six-yard box.
Sesko was a couple of yards behind Canvot when Fernandes struck the ball, but he made that space up in no time and used all of his might to brush the defender aside and power a header into the corner.
Henderson pulled off a stunning save to deny Casemiro from point-blank range and Amad Diallo enjoyed an impressive cameo as United saw out the game with relative ease.
Manchester United (4-2-3-1): S Lammens — D Dalot, L Yoro, H Maguire (A Heaven 85min), L Shaw (N Mazraoui 24min) — Casemiro, K Mainoo — B Mbeumo (J Zirkzee 86), B Fernandes, M Cunha — B Sesko (A Diallo 75). Booked Dalot, Heaven.
Crystal Palace (3-4-3): D Henderson — C Richards, M Lacroix, J Canvot — D Muñoz, A Wharton (W Hughes 68), D Kamada (Y Pino 85), T Mitchell — I Sarr, J Strand Larsen (C Riad 58), B Johnson (E Guessand 58). Booked Kamada, Henderson Sent off Lacroix.
Referee C Kavanagh. Attendance 73,934.