Manchester United suffered another disappointing home loss as Crystal Palace claimed a 2-0 victory at Old Trafford on Sunday. Meanwhile, Tottenham relieved some pressure on Ange Postecoglou with a 2-0 win over Brentford.
Jean-Philippe Mateta starred for Palace, scoring both goals in the second half, as United endured a fifth defeat in their last six home league games.
The win lifts Crystal Palace above Manchester United in the table, with Oliver Glasner’s side now sitting in 12th place.
After three consecutive wins had briefly lifted spirits at Old Trafford, it was back to square one for Ruben Amorim’s side, who once again failed to show creativity and were plagued by defensive mistakes.
Amorim’s decision to start without a natural striker, leaving Rasmus Højlund and Joshua Zirkzee on the bench, backfired as United struggled to find any attacking rhythm.
Midfielder Kobbie Mainoo started in a centre-forward role after scoring in a 2-0 victory over Romanian side FCSB in midweek.
The England international’s scuffed strike came back off the post in Man United’s best effort of a bright opening before their attacking threat fizzled out.
Crystal Palace have lost just one of their last seven league games to recover from a miserable start to the season.
The visitors missed the creative spark offered by Eberechi Eze for the first hour as an injury meant he was only fit enough for a cameo appearance off the bench.
But Eze made an instant impact as from his free-kick Maxence Lacroix’s header came back off the bar and into Mateta’s path to fire home.
Worse was to follow for Man United as Lisandro Martinez had to be stretchered off with what appeared a serious knee injury.
Crystal Palace showed no mercy to secure the three points when Daniel Munoz charged through the middle of the home side’s defence and unselfishly squared for Mateta to knock in his sixth goal in five games.
– Spurs ease relegation fears –
Spurs eased fears they could be dragged into a relegation battle as Postecoglou’s injury-ravaged side kept a rare clean sheet to see off Brentford.
The Bees were left to rue a number of missed chances against Tottenham’s makeshift defence with Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero again absent.
Brentford also lent the visitors a helping hand with the opening goal.
Hakon Valdimarsson flapped at Son Heung-min’s corner and Vitaly Janelt headed into his own net on 29 minutes.
Yoane Wissa’s header came off the bar as Brentford pushed for an equaliser.
But Spurs picked them off on the counter-attack when Pape Sarr prodded through Valdimarsson’s legs from Son’s pass.
Victory lifts Tottenham to 14th and 10 points clear of the relegation zone.
Second-placed Arsenal start the day nine points adrift of league leaders Liverpool ahead of their blockbuster clash against defending champions Manchester City at the Emirates in the 1630GMT kick-off.
