Manchester United cruise to 3-0 win over Crystal Palace in Carabao Cup

Manchester United began the defence of their Carabao Cup with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Old Trafford.

Both sides were much changed, however it was Manchester United who dominated from the start. The home side saw all of the ball in the opening 20 minutes and were able to pick open the Palace defence after 20 minutes. Diogo Dalot’s cut back pass was smashed home by Alejandro Garnacho for his first goal of the season. United then added to their lead six minutes later when Casemiro met Mason Mount’s corner with a well placed header past substitute goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.

Casemiro impressed alongside debutant Sofyan Amrabat – who made his first Manchester United start at left-back and looked at complete ease. Amrabat was moved centrally in the second half which allowed the home side to continue to dominate in the middle of the park.

The icing on the cake came 10 minutes into the second half when Anthony Martial swept home Casemiro’s cross with his weaker left foot. Casemiro’s player of the match performance was capped off with a great assist after his first half goal.

Crystal Palace offered a threat late on with Andre Onana making fine saves to deny Jean-Phillippe Mateta with both his feet and shoulder. After a poor performance from the away side, they also picked up an unfortunate injury to former United goalkeeper Dean Henderson after just 19 minutes. The England keeper pulled a muscle after a long kick up field, which will come as a huge blow to him and Crystal Palace, who are already suffering with injuries.

United manager Erik Ten Hag was pleased with his sides performance after a difficult start to the new season:

“It was a good night, we played quite well and dominated the game,” he said.

“If you don’t win, of course there is frustration and disappointment and the mood is then dropping. But the spirit was always good, the togetherness was there and is there – you could see that today.”

“We made a step forward at Burnley with how we defended, the togetherness and today on the ball we made another step.“

“There’s still a lot to come but we’re moving forward.”

The two sides meet again on Saturday at Old Trafford in the Premier League. United will be eager to find out who they draw in the next round once Wednesday’s fixtures are played.