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Manchester United 4-0 Crystal Palace: Five things we learned 

Manchester United and Crystal Palace came into this at the opposite ends of the table, and didn’t provide any great shocks as United ran out 4-0 winners. Here are five things we learned.

Commeth the hour, Commeth the Afro man

Love him? Hate him? No matter what your opinion is of Marouane Fellaini at Manchester United, you can not deny that Jose Mourinho is getting the very best out of the Belgian.

With two more goals to his tally, both coming from crosses, the Belgian certainly imposed his presence once again.

Rashford v Martial

Every week we seem to be raving about Martial or Rashford. In midweek it was Martial, this weekend, it was Rashford who was stealing the headlines.

An impressive display down the left from the young Englishman saw him bag two assists before being replaced by the Frenchman, who came on to grab an assist of his own.

The competition between the two seems to be spurring each other on to deliver week in, week out for United.

Palace are in trouble

Yes this was a game against high flying Manchester United. Yes Crystal Palace’s squad has been wrecked by injuries, but the fact still remains that they are yet to score or get a point in any of their opening seven games.

They had seven attempts on goal, only getting one on target all game, and couldn’t prevent United from creating a plethora of chances. It could have easily been more than four goals for the Reds today.

And next up for Palace, it’s Chelsea!

Luke Shaw has a lot of work to do

Luke Shaw was out of action for a number of months, returning to action in the reserves at the same time as fellow long term absentee, Ashley Young. He played several games for the U23 side to get back to match fitness and to try to force his way back into the first team.

However since then, the evidence shows just how far Luke Shaw is down to the pecking order at Old Trafford. Daley Blind and Ashley Young have been preferred in Shaw’s natural left back slot. Shaw has made a 45 minute cameo against Burton, while Ashley Young has played 457 minutes, completing four 90 minute matches of his five appearances this season.

Shaw needs to take a leaf out of Anthony Martial and Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s book who have also been exiled by Jose Mourinho to come back with a bang.

United are definitely improved, but now it’s time to show by how much.

Second place in the league, unbeaten, scoring goals for fun, and keeping them out at the other end. United are definitely improved so far this season in comparison to last year.

However, unlike the majority of their rivals, they are yet to face any of last season’s top five so far. Next up, after the international break, is a sequence of four away games on the run, starting with a trip to face bitter rivals, Liverpool. They also face a rampant Tottenham side towards the end of October, games that will be the real marker of how much they are improved and how real their title challenge will be.

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