An 88th minute goal from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, his 14th of his debut season at Manchester United, earned the Red Devils a well deserved but highly controversial 2-1 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
In a game that was dominated by poor officiating, United were lucky not to have Marcos Rojo sent off for a two footed tackle, fortunate to be awarded an injury time goal in the first half after a blatant hand ball from Zlatan followed by an offside finish from Paul Pogba, unlucky not to be awarded a penalty in the second half, and unfortunate to have Juan Mata's goal disallowed.
Depending on which side of the fence you sit, chances are you will have your own opinion on each of those decisions, but the net outcome of the game is Manchester United won it 2-1, a win they probably deserved.
Crystal Palace were diabolically poor in the first half, barely touching the ball in the opening 15 minutes, and seldom stepping out of their own half in the remaining half hour.
They were punished for sitting back and absorbing pressure when Paul Pogba smashed home Zlatan's assist in the 2nd minute of injury time, from an offside position, with the ball clearly coming off the Swede's hand.
Palace finally came out to play some football in the second half with Joe Ledley having been thrown on for an out of form Mathieu Flamini, the former Arsenal man making a rare start for the Eagles.
Ledley had an exciting start to the game, coming close to scoring before almost conceding a penalty for a rather blatant hand ball in his own box - a decision which went unpunished by Referee Craig Pawson, who appeared to have his mind on other matters today.
Instead it was Palace who drew level in the 66th minute with veteran centre back Damien Delaney producing an audacious back heel to setup James McArthur, who smashed home the equalizer from the edge of the box.
Juan Mata meanwhile saw a perfectly good goal ruled out shortly after for offside, a decision which would have no doubt left smoke pluming from Jose Mourinho's ears.
Fortunately for Manchester United, it wasn't to be one of those days which they have had to endure far too often for their liking this season.
In the 88th minute, Paul Pogba found Zlatan in the box, and the 35 year old Super Swede slid the ball home from a tight angle to ensure that all three points head to Manchester.
The win makes it two straight for the Reds Devils, but with Tottenham, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all winning above them in the league standings as well, they stay in 6th place, having only pulled some points back on Arsenal this week, who were the big losers of match week 16, going down 2-1 to Everton yesterday.
Up next for United is a trip to West Bromwich Albion, for whom Salomon Rondon scored a hat-trick of headers to power the side up to 7th place in the Premier League standings.
Teams:
Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Ward, Dann, Delaney, Kelly, McArthur, Flamini (Ledley 46') , Cabaye, Lee, Zaha, Benteke.
Subs: Speroni, Fryers, Ledley, Husin, Townsend, Wan-Bissaka, Campbell.
Manchester United: De Gea; Bailly (Darmian 52'), Jones, Rojo, Blind; Carrick, Herrera; Mata (Lingard 70'), Pogba, Rooney (Rashford 80'); Ibrahimovic.
Subs: Romero, Darmian, Fellaini, Lingard, Schweinsteiger, Young, Rashford.
Final Score: Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester United (Pogba 45+2', McArthur 66', Ibrahimovic 88')
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