Manchester United shrugged off Crystal Palace with a great degree of ease as they kept their hopes alive of finishing in the top-4 this season.
A Damien Delaney own goal and a sweet strike from Matteo Darmian sealed off the game for United, who were playing with an inventive front-five tonight.
Wayne Rooney was asked to play in a deeper role and the United skipper thrived with some stupendous ball out wide to Antonio Valencia.
Speaking of Valencia, he enjoyed a successful night playing from the full-back role. His overlapping runs went throughout the night and was a major factor in an improved display from his team.
On that note, we take a look at Manchester United vs Crystal Palace Player Ratings to acknowledge the best and worst rated players from Old Trafford.
Manchester United Player Ratings vs Crystal Palace
De Gea (5.5), Valencia (7), Smalling (6), Blind (6), Darmian (7), Schndierlin (6), Rooney (7), Lingard (6.5), Mata (6.5), Martial (7), Rashford (6.5)
Substitutes – Memphis (5), Fellaini (5), Herrera (NA)
David De Gea was a spectator tonight and so were other United defenders. Palace had nothing to show for going forward and it resulted in one of the most comfortable performance from United this season.
Crystal Palace Player Ratings vs Manchester United
Speroni (7.5); Kelly (5.5), Mariappa (5.5), Delaney (5), Souare (6); Jedinak (6), Cabaye (5.5), Lee (5); Zaha (6.5), Sako (5.5); Adebayor (5)
Man of the Match – Matteo Darmian was a regular feature in United’s attack and he was involved in both the goals but for me, it was Wayne Rooney who stood out playing from the deeper role.
United skipper has been tipped to take over this role for a long time and to be fair; he looked comfortable playing there tonight. He was hardly pinched off the ball and he showed his passing range with some stupendous balls to Valencia and his teammates.
Image Credit: Getty