Casemiro was sent off as Man Utd produced one of the narrow football results of the weekend in the Premier League. Bruno Fernandes’ early penalty and Marcus Rashford’s deft strike gave United a 2-0 lead before the Brazilian was sent out after a VAR review for putting his hands around Will Hughes’ neck. However, after being reduced to 10 men after Jeffrey Schlupp’s goal giving Palace a chance to rally, they faltered and nearly cost themselves the match in the waning seconds. Both Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eberiche Eze came close to extending Palace’s unbeaten streak against United to three games, but United persevered to eke out a 13th straight victory at home.
The lengthy winning streak that Manchester United has enjoyed at Old Trafford dates back to Patrick Vieira’s playing days, and the visiting manager was well aware of the threat that an aggressive home team posed. Given that, Marriner was about as far away from the opening he desired for his team when VAR notified him of an unintentional but obvious Hughes handball just five minutes in. Fernandes then sent Guaita the wrong way from 12 yards. The Eagles’ situation did improve, but only after they had weathered many waves of United pressure. Guaita had to make a great one-handed save off of Wout Weghorst’s header from a corner, and Fred came close to beating him at his near post.
When Palace did have the ball, they wasted it, managing only a 25-yard drive from Schlupp in the first half. They came back with newfound vigor and experienced a couple of close calls, but they were still trailing the game’s decisive move 2-0. Seven United players participated in the build-up around the Palace box before Luke Shaw squared the ball for Marcus Rashford to sidefoot home.
United appeared to be cruising to three points at that time, and they very well could have done so had they stayed on the field with 11 players. But everything changed when a VAR review revealed that Casemiro had been holding Hughes’ neck amid a 20-man melee. Before Marc Guehi headed directly at De Gea from a corner, Odsonne Edouard fired a warning shot from 20 yards away. Schlupp quickly hooked Doucoure’s errant shot past the goalkeeper to give them the lead moments later.
When Eze missed a good opportunity to score, Ten Hag had had enough and switched to a back five, replacing Alejandro Garnacho after a brief cameo of 28 minutes. However, Palace still should have equalized. De Gea partially cleared a dangerous Michael Olise cross, but it came back into the area for Mateta, who had to strike the goal from six yards out but headed over with the goal gaping. In the last seven minutes of extra time, United held strong to secure their longest streak of victories at home in more than ten years and put any issues brought on by Casemiro’s absence off for another day.
“The Crystal Palace player takes a significant risk. Pushing him across the line puts Antony in danger of suffering serious injuries. Everyone then responds, including our players and their players,” Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag said. “Even worse than Casemiro was another player. Being a VAR requires consistency. When Eriksen was hurt last week, VAR did not step in. After Mateta elbowed Martinez during our game against Crystal Palace, Martinez had to be on the sidelines for two weeks with a lump on his eyebrow. This is wrong. By defending our player and defending the player, Casemiro is restraining him. If Casemiro had been dismissed, many other players also ought to have been dismissed.”
“Since I was a long way away, I missed the red card. The game must be played with respect, and when your opponent is not respected, things can go wrong,” Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira said. “The United player started this circumstance by looking for it. However, it’s important to maintain your composure and focus on your goals, and I was delighted with the character we displayed today. It was a challenging game, and the refs had to make some extremely tough calls. However, we made a concerted effort to play with great discipline. When we let up the first goal, it was difficult for us, but we were still able to win the match.”
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