As the second half began, a banner appeared in the Stretford End that read: “MUFC proudly colonised by immigrants.” If this was a riposte to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s assertion that these shores have been overrun by those from overseas (for which the co-owner half-heartedly apologised), Manchester United needed their own reply to a listless opening period that left them trailing to Maxence Lacroix’s early header.
Eleven minutes after the restart, they did. First came Lacroix’s sending-off, issued by Chris Kavanagh after a pitchside monitor review for yanking over Matheus Cunha. The contact started before the 18-yard line but it continued into the penalty area, so the referee followed up awarding a spot-kick by showing his red card. Fernandes calmly beat Dean Henderson to the left of the Crystal Palace No 1, who guessed wrong.
This was all part of a far brighter United mode after what had surely been some curt words from Michael Carrick at the break, the interim manager needing to wake his side from its stupor. Already, Benjamin Sesko had had a shot blocked by Jaydee Canvot.
When Fernandes and Sesko intervened next, United went ahead. A weak Palace clearance dropped on to Fernandes’s toes, and he controlled the ball and crossed from the right. Sesko, showing far more hunger than Canvot, beat the defender to a header that powered beyond Henderson’s left hand, and so the Slovene had a ninth goal in United colours, with seven of these in his last eight appearances.
