Man Utd 0 Crystal Palace 0: Wilfried Zaha shines back at Old Trafford as United’s home woes return

Crystal Palace will return to the capital with a point after hard-fought draw as Manchester United dropped more points at Old Trafford.

Roy Hodgson’s side will feel they could have left Manchester with more than that with Patrick van Aanholt and Andros Townsend spurning the best of the chances as United toiled in front of goal again.

With Manchester City and Liverpool both racking up wins on the road, Jose Mourinho’s side find themselves even further adrift - with the result confirming their worst start to a league season in 28 years.

Looking to impress back in Manchester, Wilfried Zaha set out to torment his former employers from the start, forcing David de Gea to scramble across goal as his vicious effort from 25 yards out whistled just wide of the Spaniard’s post early on.

The Ivory Coast international was involved in the game‘s first real chance, easily outmuscling Nemanja Matic in the middle of the park to spark a counter - only for Patrick van Aanholt to miss the target when left one on one.

Palace thought they had taken a just lead minutes before the break with Cheikhou Kouyate rose above Victor Lindelof to nod home from a free kick – only to see his effort chalked off for offside.

Thew visitors felt their goal should have stood – exactly Romelu Lukaku’s sentiments when he poked home from Ashley Young’s deflected cross after 57 minutes only with his effort also ruled out.

A new-look Marouane Fellaini was introduced from the bench as Jose Mourinho sought to add some control to shambolic midfield performance but the Belgian made his presence known for all the wrong reasons – luckily to escape a red card after a dangerous challenge on Luka Milivojevic.

If United’s insipid performance was to be epitomised in one moment it was Andros Townsend’s near-miss on 74 minutes, with the Palace winger sauntering past another meek challenge from Matic before easily breaking into the box despite having Lindelof and Matteo Darmian for company.

Their blushes were spared when Townsend fired wide of de Gea’s far post from 10 yards out.

A fine save from Wayne Hennessey denied Lukaku a goal on his return to the starting XI but it would have been an undeserved winner for the home side whose woes in front of their own fans continue - with just three league wins on their own turf this season.