Manchester United just keep winning football matches. It is such a positive, yet simple thing to say about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team. It was Crystal Palace this time who paid the price, as Man United won 3-1 at Selhurst. This was their fifth London win since the Norwegian arrived from Molde – Romelu Lukaku scored a brace, before Ashley Young put the game to bed late on. Joel Ward scored the third goal of the match, to pull one back, but it was not enough.
Not even against a decimated Man United, who had numerous issues with injuries and unavailability, but still managed to win it. It was not pretty at some points of the match and it could have been a lot closer, but it looks like that is another good thing about Solskjaer’s team – winning in a good manner even when thins are not perfect.
Eight Away Wins In A Row For Man United
This was Manchester United’s eighth consecutive away win in all competitions under Solskjaer. It is something no one ever did before, as this team got into history books. Teams beaten during this run are Cardiff, Newcastle, Tottenham, Arsenal, Leicester, Fulham, Chelsea and Crystal Palace. That is two months straight of winning away from Old Trafford, while still visiting the capital on five occasions.
The way things have changed in this period is astonishing, but it is also eye-catching this win happened just days after several new issues coming to the fore during the clash against Liverpool. The Devils overcame those problems against Palace and now Southampton will be coming to town.
Luke Shaw Confirms This Is The Season Of His True Comeback
Luke Shaw assisted Lukaku with a goal on the evening and the Belgian knew how to retaliate for that.
“He is our player of the season for me and I’m glad he gave me the pass for the first goal. When players come back from injury they can add to the team, it’s a really strong squad”, the Belgian said post-match.
It is a huge stretch, and in fact unrealistic, to call him Man United’s player of the season, but Lukaku got onto something here. This is the season when Shaw has been quite good for bigger part of the season and after everything he has been through both on and off the pitch, it deserves plaudits.
Lukaku And United Take Their Chances
Man United did not have too many chances in this match and if you consult expected goals model, you will see Crystal Palace were even a bit better with the positioning of their chances. But United took their chances. Lukaku scored twice from four shots, three of which came from decent central positions.
Maybe the three goals slightly flattered the Devils, but being clinical in front of the goal is always a great thing. Especially if some of the key players, like Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, are not on the pitch. All of this is just another example of improvement in the past few months.
If man utd continue with these players definitely they have two strong winning squads to use when playing with every team