A late goal from Marouane Fellaini was enough to see Manchester United earn a crucial 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.
Daley Blind came close in the opening ten minutes before Juan Mata slotted home from the penalty spot in the 18th minute. Palace turned up the intensity in the second period with Glen Murray coming close before substitute Jason Puncheon equalised just before the hour mark. Ashley Young came close before setting up Fellaini’s winning goal 12 minutes from the end.
Julian Speroni was called into action in the eighth minute when Blind hit a shot from just outside the area and the keeper did brilliantly to get down and get a hand to it to put it onto the post.
Ten minutes later United were awarded a penalty, Ashley Young put a ball into the area which defender Scott Dann leant into and put behind, however it looked to be a clear handball by the Palace player and referee Michael Oliver pointed to the spot. Mata stepped up to take the set-piece and the Spaniard coolly slotted home just beyond the reach of Speroni into the bottom left corner.
Dann nearly made up for giving away the penalty in the 26th minute when he got his head on a cleverly worked free-kick from Mile Jedinak, but his attempted headed pass to Murray was just beyond the reach of the striker.
Palace started the second period brightly and Murray came close five minutes after the restart, Pape Souare hit a low cross into the striker but he could only flick it into the side-netting.
Six minutes later the hosts were level, a free-kick on the edge was sweetly hit by Puncheon and looked to have taken a slight deflection off Blind before going past De Gea into the net.
De Gea then had produce a fantastic save to keep the scores level, the ball found its way to Murray who was one-on-one with the Spaniard but he spread himself brilliantly and managed to get his hand to the ball to send it away from goal. He was called into action again moments later when he had to put Wilfred Zaha’s volley behind.
United pushed to regain their lead when Young did well 15 minutes before the end to cut inside and get his shot off but it was deflected behind by Dann. Mata had the ball in the net a minute later but the flag was up on the far side for offside.
In the 78th minute United took the lead again, Young did well again on the far side and played a cross in which looked to be heading into the hands of Speroni but he clashed with Damian Delaney which left Fellaini to nod home with ease.
Herrera came close to sealing the win when Radamel Falcao played an excellent pass to the Spaniard to hit on the volley but Speroni did well to tip it over the bar.
That was an important win for United to get their first win in four matches after three consecutive losses and also in their continued race to regain Champions League football next season, it looked to be heading for a draw possibly even another loss but they managed to pull it back.
Palace will be disappointed that they suffered yet another defeat at Selhurst Park but they took the game to Louis Van Gaal’s side especially in the second period and will be hoping that they continue that and finish the season on a high.
| Crystal Palace (1) | Manchester United (2) | ||
 |  |  | |
| Speroni | 5 | De Gea | 7 |
| Ward | 5 | Valencia | 5 |
| Dann | 5 | Smalling | 6 |
| Delaney | 5 | Jones | 5 |
| souare | 5 | Shaw | 4 |
| Jedinak | 6 | Blind | 5 |
| Ledley | 5 | Herrera | 6 |
| Bolasie | 5 | Mata | 7 |
| McArthur | 6 | Fellaini | 7 |
| Zaha | 6 | Young | 8 |
| Murray | 6 | Rooney | 5 |
| Remplaçants | |||
| Puncheon | 7 | Evans | 5 |
| Chamakh | 5 | Falcao | 6 |
| Lee | 5 | McNair | 5 |