A stoppage-time volley from Nemanja Matic completed a three-goal Manchester United turnaround in a five-goal thriller with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park tonight.
The Red Devils were two down to Andros Townsend and Patrick van Aanholt strikes but recovered to snatch three points which return them to second in the table.
Chris Smalling and Romelu Lukaku pegged Palace back and just as the hosts seemed to have done enough to hold onto a deserved draw, Matic came up with a goal which was worthy of winning any game.
Wayne Hennessey endured some nervy moments in the Palace goal but did come to their rescue early on when he rushed off his line to block Jesse Lingard's looping header.
The Eagles were ahead four minutes later when Christian Benteke held the ball up well and teed up Townsend for a shot which took a chunky deflection off Victor Lindelof on its way past David de Gea.
Palace warranted their half-time lead because, while United's attacking game was disjointed, the hosts pushed for a second as Alexander Sorloth drilled a low shot which De Gea saved diving to his left.
It did get worse for the Red Devils three minutes after the restart when a quick free kick from Jeffrey Schlupp to release Van Aanholt caught out the visitors, and the Dutchman finished confidently inside the near post.
United's response was quicker and stronger this time, and they pulled one back within seven minutes as James Tomkins played Smalling onside to head Antonio Valencia's delivery down into the bottom corner.
Benteke missed a good chance to restore Palace's two-goal cushion when he glanced Van Aanholt's cross wide, but made amends by clearing Matic's powerful shot off the line moments later at the other end.
Two minutes later Palace could not get a body in the way as Lukaku kept his cool to shoot through a congested penalty box and beyond Hennessey to draw the visitors level with still a quarter of an hour to play.
It seemed as though United had all of the momentum but they still needed De Gea to bail them out when Benteke once again climbed above Smalling, only for the Spaniard to claw his header away at full stretch.
That save was just as important and spectacular as the winning goal from Matic, who was invited to shoot by Luka Milivojevic and accepted to slice a left-footed volley beyond Hennessey and into the top corner.
Having once been poised to climb to 13th in the table with an upset victory, Palace remain in the relegation zone while United have regained second from Liverpool and opened up a nine-point gap to Chelsea in fifth.
CRYSTAL PALACE (4-4-2): Hennessey; Wan-Bissaka, Kelly, Tomkins, Van Aanholt; Townsend, McArthur, Milivojevic, Sclupp (Riedewald, 80'); Benteke, Sorloth
MAN UNITED (4-3-3): De Gea; Valencia (Mata, 67'), Lindelof, Smalling, Young (Shaw, 67'); McTominay (Rashford, 45'), Matic, Pogba; Lingard, Alexis, Lukaku
Joe Fish
