Crystal Palace 1 Manchester United 2: Zlatan Ibrahimovic secures late win for Jose Mourinho

1/11
Tom Dutton15 December 2016

Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck late as Manchester United inflicted another defeat on Crystal Palace and kept pace with their top-four rivals under the lights at Selhurst Park.

Alan Pardew's men went into the game having won just once in the Premier League since September and struggled to impose themselves on proceedings in the first period as United monopolised possession.

And Jose Mourinho's side made their dominance count on the stroke half-time.

Michael Carrick's floated free-kick appeared to be diverted towards an offside Paul Pogba by Zlatan Ibrahimovic's forearm, but the France international stabbed home and the goal stood in a bitter blow to Palace's resistance.

Joe Ledley was introduced as Mathieu Flamini made way for the hosts in the second period and the Welshman immediately breathed life into Palace's forward play.

Ledley whipped a strike just wide of David De Gea's post before setting up James McArthur, who saw a rasping effort tipped over by the Manchester United goalkeeper.

And Palace's pressure eventually told after an impressive exchange between Joel Ward and Damien Delaney. The two combined before Delaney flicked the ball into McArthur's path and the midfielder poked it past De Gea for parity.

The equaliser sparked United into life and they should have been back in front almost immediately as they themselves suffered a dose of injustice.

Marcos Rojo, who was fortunate to be on the pitch following a two-footed lunge in the first period, headed Ander Herrera's cross back across goal and Juan Mata tapped it in.

But the linesman's flag cruelly denied Mourinho's men as celebrations on the United bench were cut short.

Mourinho, though, was not to be denied his victory moment as Ibrahimovic was freed late on and lifted the ball over an onrushing Hennessey to plunge Palace futher into trouble.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in