Matic is Mourinho's lucky charm

Pogba poor again

The struggling Pogba, dropped several times by Mourinho recently, was a major cause of the visitor's woes as the midfielder wasted possession and was frequently caught out of position.

The Frenchman was playing so badly that United legend Gary Neville, working for Sky Sports, was moved to say: "It's like everything he does is like a YouTube or Instagram video.

"It's like it's not serious, it's like a joke to him in terms of the way he goes about things."

Mourinho kept faith with Pogba, instead sending on Marcus Rashford for Scott McTominay at halftime.

But just three minutes after the break, United was caught cold again.

A quick Jeffrey Schlupp freekick sent Van Aanholt scampering through on goal as United appealed in vain for offside before the Dutchman held his nerve to slot past De Gea for his first goal since May 2017.

Mourinho was raging on the touchline, but Smalling gave United a lifeline in the 55th minute.

The England defender missed a decent chance moments earlier, but he made amends with a clinical header from Antonio Valencia's cross.

That completely changed the momentum and even Pogba sparked into life as his curler was pushed away by Palace keeper Wayne Hennessey.

Matic almost equalized with a thunderous strike that Benteke cleared off the line, and United's pressure was finally rewarded in the 76th minute.

Alexis Sanchez's shot deflected off James Tomkins and fell to Lukaku, who worked himself into position to fire low past Hennessey.

United was relieved, but then needed a brilliant one-handed save from De Gea to keep out a Benteke header.

The drama wasn't over.

In stoppage time, Matic stole the points for United, seizing the loose ball on the edge of the Palace area and cracking his strike into the top corner to spark wild celebrations from the visitor.

AFP