Wilfried Zaha scored twice for Crystal Palace to beat Manchester United 3-1 at Old Trafford.
The Ivorian international, who was captain on the day for Palace found the back of the net to give his team a 2-0 lead in the 74th minute from a penalty retaken after United goalkeeper David de Gea had saved the initial attempt from Ghanaian Jordan Ayew – but was judged to have been off his line by referee VAR.
It was Ayew’s shot that had first struck Victor Lindelof’s arm, promoting referee Martin Atkinson to use the pitch-side VAR monitor before pointing to the spot.
Zaha, 27, sealed the victory for Palace against his former club in the 85th minute, having found space in the box to slot in a low shot in between two United defenders.
But United had pulled one back five minutes earlier when new Dutch singing Donny van de Beek, on as a substitute, scored on his debut for the club.
Nigeria’s Odion Ighalo, whose loan stay at United had been extended until January 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, also came off the bench for the Red devils as a substitute.
Crystal Palace had opened the scoring in the sixth minute with Andros Townsend meeting a low cross from another Ghana international in the Palace side – Jeffrey Schlupp.
Zaha’s brace brings his goal tally to three this season after two games, having scored in Palace’s 1-0 win over Southampton last Saturday.
“Obviously we know what they [United] can do but we wanted to impose ourselves on the game,” the Ivorian striker said after the match.
“We’ve got so much pace and attacking threat in the team, we just wanted to utilize it from the beginning.”
Zaha also reflected on the penalty retake and replacing teammate Jordan Ayew for spot kick: “To be honest, I didn’t know [what was happening] but all I thought in my head is: ‘Now, I’ve got the opportunity to take this penalty and score.’ I’m just glad I managed to do it.
“Obviously Jordan won it, and he asked me – he wanted to take it. I said: ‘No problem, go on and take it. You got the penalty, man, take it.’ He missed, so I thought: ‘Let me just make sure myself'”.
“Being captain for the side today, especially at Old Trafford, I’m buzzing we managed to the three points.”
The win for Zaha’s Crystal Palace is their second of the season in the Premier League, with their next league game at home to Everton on Saturday, 26 November.
