Henderson saves multiple shots to deny United.
Garnacho and Fernandes find the woodwork in their efforts to score.
Eze and Sarr couldn’t capitalise on Palace’s best chances to score.
Onana denied Palace a second-half lead with an incredible double save to rival Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya’s earlier this week.
Manchester United dominated play for most of the first half of the match and must be wondering why the scoreline ended up 0-0. Henderson fended off United’s multiple efforts at the start of the match as they worked hard to score. Their best chance came when Garnacho, who started ahead of Rashford today, hit Dalot’s pass into the box against the post. The ball bounced back out to Bruno Fernandes, whose effort also saw the ball hit the bar!
Manchester United kept most of the possession and pressure in the first half of the match. However, Palace had a sniff at taking the lead in the forty-fourth minute when Mitchell’s cutback found an Eze with a lot of room to maneuver. Alas, the English footballer strike headed straight to Onana who dully saved his team from going behind.
The second half of the match saw Palace make a comeback. They were more structured, better at pressing, and created few tantalizing opportunities. Especially, in the sixty-fifth minute, Onana performed some acrobatic double save to deny Nketiah’s strike from the edge of the box and then Sarr from close range on the follow-up!
Manchester United, who kept possession for most of the match, also failed to score past their academy graduate Dean Henderson. The former Carrington graduate had produced three big stops in the first half, before knocking over Alejandro Garnacho’s curling effort at full stretch in the second half moments before Onana’s double save. United would have had a clear lead by half-time if not for Henderson’s match-saving performance. Eberechi Eze had another opportunity to score in the second half but failed to convert.
Overall, Manchester United were the dominant side in the first half of the match. The second half saw both Palace and United create a few great openings, to be frustratingly denied by the goalkeepers on both ends of the field. Eric Ten Hag’s side will have to step it up with the Europa Championship around the corner. Seven points from the first five Premier League games isn’t a good reflection of Manchester United’s top 4 ambitions.
