Zaha bags a brace as United pay the penalty for a lazy display
MANCHESTER UNITED 1
Van de Beek (80)
CRYSTAL PALACE 3
Townsend (7), Zaha (74 pen, 85)
Wilfried Zaha returned to haunt former club Manchester United in their season opener, with Crystal Palace’s deserved victory underlining the need for some major improvements at Old Trafford.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer led the Red Devils to three Cup semi-finals and third in the Premier League during a promising first full season in the hotseat, but a lack of transfer activity has since led to growing fan discontent.
Few expected Roy Hodgson’s men to make it back-to-back Premier League wins, even though this was their third competitive match of a season United were only just starting.
But that extra sharpness was evident from the outset, with David de Gea breathing a sigh of relief after passing straight to an opposition player in a match that was only seven minutes old when the Eagles scored.
Tyrick Mitchell’s clipped pass down the left found Jeffrey Schlupp and Victor Lindelof failed to deal with the threat, allowing the Palace man to fire in a low cross from the left that Andros Townsend beat Luke Shaw to at the far post.
It was a smart finish, but an avoidable goal for the hosts.
Paul Pogba dropped a shoulder and unleashed a right-footed drive from the edge of the box that Vicente Guaita stopped as United looked to hit back, with Scott Mctominay and Bruno Fernandes then trying their luck from range.
United were struggling to carve open the visitors and were denied a spot-kick as video assistant referee Jon Moss decided after much deliberation that Pogba had not been fouled.
Frustration at that decision and this performance would have been compounded in stoppage time was it not for de Gea’s fine reactions when Ayew unleashed a close-range shot. Zaha also tried his luck
before the half-time whistle, which Palace returned from strongly as Ayew and Townsend continued to threaten.
Mason Greenwood, who replaced the ineffective Daniel James at half-time, headed narrowly wide at the far post in the 60th minute, but Palace were proving a threat again and Zaha found the net, only for the offside flag to be raised.
Donny van de Beek replaced Pogba in a bid to prise open Hodgson’s well-drilled side, but it would be a memorable debut for all the wrong reasons for the Holland midfielder.
There was disbelief around the handful of those at Old Trafford when Atkinson trotted over to the monitor to check a handball against Lindelof when blocking an unorthodox Ayew shot. The referee pointed to the spot and there were cheers as de Gea got down well to his right to thwart Ayew’s spot-kick.
But relief quickly turned to incredulity as Atkinson ordered a retake having been informed that de Gea had marginally come off his line. Zaha made no mistake with the re-take.
The United goalkeeper clapped sarcastically, and van de Beek looked to have given his new club a chance when capitalising on poor Palace defending to fire home.
But the hosts’ backline was not much better and Zaha was able to turn Lindelof and hit a low shot past De Gea five minutes from time.