United 0 Palace 2

In response, Amorim ushered on the strike duo of Hojlund and Zirkzee from the bench, as Mainoo and Mazraoui made way with Amad reverting to a deeper role at wing-back, as we sought to get more attacking players on the pitch.

Fernandes and Amad went close to inspiring a leveller, the former dribbling the width of the box and maybe retaining the ball longer than he'd have liked, but the skipper did release it for Amad who went for a goal following a quick give-and-go, but fired his edge-of-the-box strike over.

A worrying pause to proceedings followed as Martinez was downed following a collision with Sarr, clutching his knee as play had to be halted for several moments, before the Argentinian was withdrawn on a stretcher and replaced by Matthiijs de Ligt. Our thoughts are with Lisandro, as we hope for a safe and speedy recovery.

Our late efforts to get back in to the contest were compounded two minutes from time when Mateta scored his and Palace's second. Munoz broke the offside trap, latching on to Sarr's threaded ball down the right channel and squaring for Mateta, who supplied another clinical close-range finish to beat Onana.

Martinez's lengthy period of treatment contributed to nine minutes of stoppage-time, during which Hojlund came closest to halving the deficit with a glancing header just past Henderson's post - an effort which ultimately symbolised our fortunes on the day, with things not quite falling our way on another frustrating afternoon at Old Trafford.