Man United climb to 3rd with win over Crystal Palace

Sports Desk, Feb 4 (EFE).- Manchester United survived going down to 10 men with 20 minutes left to beat Crystal Palace 2-1 Saturday and move up to third place in the Premier League.

The Red Devils improved to 42 points, just 3 behind defending champions Manchester City and 8 off the pace of leaders Arsenal, though both the Gunners and the Cityzens – away to Tottenham on Sunday – who have a game in hand.

Palace are 12th on 24 points.

Hosts United, fresh off booking their ticket to the Carabao Cup final, went ahead in the 7th minute off a Bruno Fernandes penalty.

A cross into the box from Marcus Rashford struck the arm of Palace midfielder Will Hughes and a glance at the sideline monitor was enough for referee Andre Marriner, who pointed to the spot.

Visiting goalkeeper Vicente Guaita made a great save to prevent Wout Weghorst from doubling United’s lead in the 13th minute and dealt easily with efforts from Rashford and Antony.

At the other end, David de Gea made a diving stop to deny Jeffrey Schlupp in the 43rd minute.

The London side showed more ambition in the second half, but the contest looked to be settled when Rashford made it 2-0 in the 62nd minute with his 19th goal of the campaign in all competitions.

Just three minutes later, a foul by Schlupp on Antony sparked a melee that resulted in yellow cards for both players and a red card for United’s Casemiro, who was seen with both hands around the throat of Will Hughes.

Palace sprung to life and went on the attack. De Gea turned aside a powerful header from Marc Guehi in the 75th minute, but couldn’t stop Schlupp from cutting the deficit to 2-1 seconds later.

Jean-Philippe Mateta headed over the cross-bar on a chance for the equalizer in the 87th and United withstood the pressure to grab all 3 points.

In other games, Newcastle United missed a chance to reclaim third place from the Red Devils, settling for a 1-1 draw with West Ham United, and slumping Liverpool lost 3-0 away to Wolverhampton to remain 10th in the table.

Brighton & Hove Albion topped second-from-bottom Bournemouth to go sixth, while Brentford pounded last-place Southampton to move up to seventh place.

The day’s action got under way on Merseyside, where struggling Everton felled Arsenal 1-0.

Sean Dyche’s first outing as Everton’s new manager at Goodison Park saw the hosts march to a hard-fought win thanks to James Tarkowski’s second half goal while Arsenal struggled to find a response.

The 3 points put 18th-place Everton level on points with Leeds United, who are 17th by virtue of goal difference.

Tarkowski secured the lead in the 60th minute with a towering header from a corner.

Arsenal had chances from Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka but failed to convert – the latter’s shot brilliantly defended by Conor Coady.

Mikel Arteta’s late decision to introduce new signings Leandro Trossard and Jorginho failed to make an impact. EFE rmm-jt-dr