Manchester United’s hopes of European football next season suffered a major blow as they were thrashed 4-0 by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Monday. The defeat leaves United in eighth place in the Premier League table with just 54 points from 35 games, two points behind Newcastle United in sixth.
A makeshift United defense, which included Casemiro at center-back, was easily exploited by Palace on several occasions. Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell were also on the scoresheet for the impressive win, while Michael Olise scored a brace.
United had several injury absentees and were without Bruno Fernandes, but the ease with which they were beaten will be a huge concern for everyone at the club.
“A big disappointment. We just had an off-day and we weren’t in it,” midfielder Christian Eriksen told BBC. “It is what it is. We can’t really change the injury things. We have to do what we can on the pitch to change it.”
“Today it didn’t matter who we played. Everyone could have done better. We tried to do what we could but we were not good enough. We’ll take the blame as players.”
It is the first time in the Premier League era that United have lost 13 games in a season, and the scoreline could have been worse.
The home side took the lead inside 12 minutes as Olise collected a throw and evaded a limp challenge from Casemiro. With no United player attempting to close him down, he was able to unleash a low shot from just inside the box.
It was 2-0 five minutes before the break as Mateta breezed past United defender Jonny Evans and thrashed the ball into the net for a ninth goal in 11 games since the arrival of Glasner in February.
The striker had scored 11 goals in his previous 80 games for Palace before that.
United’s makeshift defense was struggling to contain the movement of their hosts, and when Diogo Dalot failed to deal with a ball to the back post, Mitchell had a tap-in.
Olise’s second goal added more salt to the wound, and it could have been worse for the visitors as Odsonne Edouard saw his shot come back off the woodwork late on.
“I think we could have got a few more. That shows the potential we have to play against any team in the league,” Palace defender Chris Richards said.
