Every game at this stage of the Premier League season is very crucial and with 4 teams fighting for the last 3 slots of next season’s UEFA Champions League things just got more interesting in the most watched football league in the world. At the bottom of the League there’s also the battle for survival which Manchester United’s hosts, Crystal Palace are a part of. It was one of those dreaded games for me and what made it worse was due to circumstances beyond my control I could not watch the game.
The first name I expected in the starting line-up for United apart from David De Gea of course was Jesse Lingard and he made the cut. He was the only change I expected the manager to make after the victory over Chelsea. I did not even envisage the kind of start to the game we had. Yeah I had to follow the match via the Flashscore app’s live commentary section because my Mobdro app was acting up.
Andros Townsend drew first blood for Palace in the 11th minute and despite United dominating possession Crystal Palace seemed the more purposeful side with more shots on target. The first half ended 1-0 with the Red Devils chasing shadows.
United were in trouble and I was hoping the introduction of Marcus Rashford at the start of the second half was going to instantly tilt the game in our favour. I thought wrong and 3 minutes after the second half kicked off Van Aanholt added a 2nd goal for the Eagles.
The Red Devils were able to get a goal in the 55th minute when Chris Smalling latched on to Antonio Valencia’s cross.
Hope was restored at this point though I was not watching but I was keenly following the game. The game wore on and in the 76th minute Romelu Lukaku levelled scores for United and the only thing that came to my mind was our position on the league table.
I was being greedy at this point, we had come from 2 goals down but the spirit of it is not over till the final whistle is blown ignited in United fans during the Sir Alex Ferguson era had taken over my mind. A win would take us back to 2nd position pushing our real rivals Liverpool back to 3rd.
The much desired goal came in the 91st minute from an unlikely source in Nemanja Matic. A well taken shot from outside the box ensured United left Selhurst Park with all 3 points leaving the Eagles rooted in the relegation zone.
3-2 the game ended and United take on Liverpool next in an early kick off on Saturday.
Thanks for your time guys.
Twitter @dipoogun/theswizzmemoirs
