(Football news) The Eagles were in control from the start of the game and led by two goals at halftime thanks to goals from Michael Olise and Jean-Philippe Mateta, following their 1-0 victory at Old Trafford earlier in the season.

The second period saw the return of regular play, and Olise scored his second goal of the game after Tyrick Mitchell had also scored. This put the hosts, who are in 14th place, on 43 points as they cap off a difficult campaign.

Oliver Glasner’s men may still be seven places below Erik ten Hag’s troops, but they outclassed their meek opponents in every department to leave the Red Devils below Chelsea in the final European spot on goal difference, and it is now 81 goals shipped for the permeable visitors, surpassing the 80 they let in during the 1977-78 term.

Once again sporting an incredibly youthful bench and makeshift defence, Man United were also ruing the rare absence of captain Bruno Fernandes, whose omission saw Mason Mount make a rare Premier League start.

The ageing backline of Jonny Evans and Casemiro immediately came under siege by the Olise and Eberechi Eze-inspired hosts, and Ten Hag’s centre-backs were among the Red Devils men who failed to cover themselves in glory for a somewhat comical Palace opener in the 12th minute.

Latching onto a throw-in between the lines with no real pressure, Olise shrugged off Christian Eriksen and beat an onrushing Casemiro all ends up before charging at Evans, who just backed off and backed off against the advancing Frenchman.

With not a single Manchester United player prepared to put a tackle in, the Frenchman had ample time and space to pick out the bottom corner from the edge of the box, thereby registering his eighth strike of the Premier League season.

The Red Devils’ response was feeble for the most part, but the ball was in the back of the Palace net in the 27th minute, when Dean Henderson would seemingly catch Casemiro’s looping header, but the Eagles shot-stopper was nudged in the back by Rasmus Hojlund and the goal was chalked off.

There were shades of the David Raya vs. Bournemouth incident as Man United were controversially denied a leveller, and the visitors quickly returned to their meek ways, allowing Palace to punish them again in the 40th minute.

A calamity of errors on the right saw Palace regain possession through Chris Richards, whose through ball to Mateta ended with the Frenchman gliding past Evans as if he was not there and firing a fierce drive past Andre Onana.

Mateta emulated Alan Shearer with his strike, becoming the first man since the ex-Newcastle United forward in 1996-97 to score in each of his first six Premier League home games under a new manager, whose opposite number Ten Hag held off on making any half-time changes.

It was deja vu for Manchester United in the second period, as Casemiro had another goal ruled out for offside in the 53rd minute, and the Red Devils subsequently came under the cosh once more.

Onana managed to forestall Mitchell and Will Hughes within the space of a few seconds, but the Cameroonian was powerless to deny the former his hard-earned goal in the 58th minute, as he tapped in from unmissable range after Joachim Andersen prodded Wharton’s delivery into his path.

The visitors’ embarrassment went up a notch in the 68th minute, when the lackadaisical Casemiro was robbed of the ball on the byline by Daniel Munoz, who sprayed the ball to Olise just inside the box, and the winger’s venomous drive flew past Onana’s futile reach.

It could even be argued that the 4-0 result was a slight to Man United, who were a defensive mess and had run out of ideas in the last third, though they didn’t have many opportunities to enter the Palace half in the first place.

In added time, the hosts’ substitute Odsonne Edouard came dangerously close to making it a five-star showing, brushing the post with a shot that left Onana stranded to the spot, but Glasner’s team eventually declared at four.

On Saturday, the Eagles will travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers for their final road game of the season. On Sunday, Man United will play leaders Arsenal in front of the irate Old Trafford supporters. 

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