Manchester United have failed to win in the Premier League for the second game in a row. Where the team of manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer drew 0-0 against Chelsea on Sunday, the same score was on the board against Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening after ninety minutes. The points division is a big blemish in the pursuit of Manchester City, which now has a lead of fourteen points and no longer seems to be traceable. Donny van de Beek was not part of the match selection at United due to an injury.
United, which, in addition to Van de Beek and Anthony Martial, had no access to goalkeeper David de Gea, had a slight advantage in an extremely disappointing first half. The first time the visitors turned up dangerously in front of Vicente Guaita’s goal was after fifteen minutes of play. Bruno Fernandes expertly placed the ball on the edge of the penalty area for Nemanja Matic, who saw his shot almost go through James McCarthy into the top corner. Goalkeeper Guaita, however, managed to barely prevent a goal against with an extreme effort.
Not much later, the same Matic embarrassed his own goalkeeper when he made a wrong wide pass and saw Andros intercept Townsend. However, Palace’s number ten slipped on the edge of the penalty area, leaving Matic and United with a fright. In the second half, the play of both teams did not cause much more excitement than before the break and Townsend scored the first danger, who fired on Henderson’s goal with a half volley after Luka Milivojevic found the wall with a free kick.
Palace, which started with Patrick van Aanholt in the starting line-up and brought Jaïro Riedewald in half an hour before time, showed itself to be dangerous a number of times in the second half. Manager Rod Hodgson’s team even had the opportunity to take the game in the absolute final phase, when Van Aanholt suddenly appeared in front of Henderson. The fullback, however, fired at the body of United’s final post, after which referee Andre Marriner closed off not much later. It is the first time since October 2015, when Louis van Gaal was still at the helm, that United have closed three consecutive official games with a 0-0 draw.