A third draw in succession for the Red Devils over the festive period places them 14 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, who have a game in hand still to play, and now one behind Chelsea in second.
Browsing: Romelu Lukaku
A Carabao Cup penalty shootout defeat to Manchester City followed on Tuesday and 24 hours later, United were shocked by Bristol City in the same competition
The hosts ultimately fell short of ending what is now a club-record 17-match winless streak across all competitions, with United holding on for a third consecutive away win and a sixth victory in their last seven outings
Manchester United has returned to winning ways in the Premier League with a nervy 1-0 victory over Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Wednesday
The Group A leaders were all but guaranteed a place in the knockout stages before kickoff, although they could have still mathematically – if not realistically – missed out in a three-way playoff with Basel and CSKA
The 24-year-old summer arrival began the season in sparkling form, finding the net in every game he played in for Belgium and United, bar one, from August 8 to October 10
An unlikely brace from Ashley Young against one of his former clubs put United in control of the contest in the first half and Anthony Martial then added a third soon after to send the clinical visitors into the break with a commanding lead
Reports had suggested that Lukaku would be banned for United’s next three domestic matches, which include showdowns with both Arsenal and Manchester City.
He said: “We started by blowing teams away, being dominant and creating chances. But in the last few weeks, we didn’t play at the same level and that made it more difficult for me.
United were 1-0 up and had already missed one penalty, a soft effort from Anthony Martial saved by Benfica’s 18-year-old keeper Mile Svilar.
After scoring seven goals in as many league games, Lukaku has not scored in the following three matches and his fading goal scoring exploits, along with his underwhelming record in big games has been criticised
Koeman was sacked on Monday after Everton’s 5-2 loss to Arsenal dropped them into the Premier League relegation zone.
Liverpool controlled the game for large periods, but both teams did not do enough on Merseyside as a meeting between these two clubs ended in a draw for the fourth successive game
Lukaku has hit the ground running since signing from Everton in the off-season with six league goals in as many games
Palace remain rock bottom of the table on zero points, and the Eagles are now without a single goal in their opening seven Premier League matches of the 2017-18 campaign
Palace have already extended the worst-ever top flight start for a generation to six matches and despite the strength of their upcoming opponents, they cannot afford to go almost a quarter of the way through the campaign without any sort of a return
Man United had a lot of the ball in the early moments, and the Red Devils took the lead inside the first four minutes when Martial’s brilliant cross was headed home by Lukaku, who had risen above Ignashevich at the far post
The Belgium international urged fans “to move on” from repeating the chant, which anti-discrimination group Kick It Out suggested was “offensive and discriminatory” due to its racial undertones.
Their defiance has already triggered a second complaint from anti-discrimination group, Kick It Out
Romelu Lukaku grabbed the winner in the 20th minute of the match as he fired home on the rebound after his initial header from Ashley Young’s cross was kept out by Fraser Forster.