The Red Devils produced arguably their best performance of the season in the first half and could have easily been three or four goals ahead at the break. Dean Henderson in the Palace goal was excellent and worked tirelessly to keep United out.
Palace had a handful of bright moments and could have stolen three points with two Ebere Eze chances, but the two sides could not be separate
It took ten minutes for the primary chance of the game to stand up. Alejandro Garnacho turned into played in behind by using Joshua Zirkzee but former United man Dean Henderson turned into same to his low effort, palming the ball far from hazard.
Henderson had to be alert to deny Matthijs de Ligt soon after. An unmarked header from a nook wanted blocking by the Palace stopper, who had to deny Lisandro Martinez quickly after in a hectic begin to the game.
With 27 minutes on the clock, United fans were left wondering how they had not opened the scoring. Garnacho was determined on an effort for a crossbar, before the rebound was volleyed against the upright as well by Bruno Fernandes.
Zirkzee was the next to try his luck. He rose comfortably higher than any Palace defender to meet a corner, only to send his effort well wide of the goal when he perhaps should have scored.
Fernandes’ low cross caused all sorts of problems and Henderson had to turn a flick from Zirkzee round his post as Garnacho dived in to try and get the touch needed to convert, with United struggling to turn their dominance into goals.
Against the run of play, Palace perhaps should have taken a lead into the break. On their first foray into the United box, Ebere Eze collected a cut-back but sent a tame effort into the grateful hands of Andre Onana.
Fernandes poked wide with the outside of his boot as United maintained their momentum in the second half, and Henderson’s busy evening resumed with an acrobatic stop to deny Garnacho from range.
Down the other end, Onana was finally called into action. A low save from Eddie Nketiah was followed by a truly outstanding second from Ismaila Sarr. A double save that rivalled David Raya’s heroics for Arsenal against Atalanta.
Eze missed another great chance on a rare counter. The Palace playmaker found an inch of space in the box but bent his first-time effort the wrong side of Onana’s post.
The hosts finally grew into the game for the final 20 minutes, with United losing some of their cutting edge in the final third as a result, but there were to be no more sights of goal as the two sides had to settle for a share of the spoils.