Man United duo silence their critics and other lessons learnt from key win over Crystal Palace

United levelled through Joshua Zirkzee, with the Netherlands international rifling a powerful effort past Dean Henderson nine minutes after the restart.

And Mason Mount ended up securing all three points for the visitors with a brilliant strike from the edge of the box. GB News now takes a look at four talking points from the game.

Mount and Zirkzee silence their critics

Mount and Zirkzee have both been polarising figures at United ever since their respective moves in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Both were criticised following Monday's defeat to Everton, with the Red Devils extremely flat that night.

But they went from zeroes to heroes for United on Sunday, with the pair taking their goals well.

Zirkzee is only getting game time because Benjamin Sesko is injured.

Yet he looked sharper on Sunday than he did against David Moyes' men and his powerful strike gave Henderson no chance.

As for Mount, the England internationl could become a key player as long as he stays fit. Whether he can remains to be seen.

Fernandes shines again

Where would United be without Bruno Fernandes?

He was their sole positive last season, with the 31-year-old's goals and assists stopping the club from being sacked into a relegation battle.

And Fernandes, having now provided his 55th and 56th assists for the Red Devils, have now passed Paul Scholes.

His stats would be even better if he was deployed higher up the pitch.

There's still a sense that he'd be an even greater asset if that was to happen, but manager Amorim appears to think otherwise.

Still, Fernandes is world-class and United would be in a huge mess without him.

VAR comes in handy

VAR has split opinion over the years. Some fans hate it, others believe it's an asset.

But the technology came in handy on Sunday, with Mateta's first penalty ruled out.

The Palace forward accidentally hit the ball twice. Without the technology, that error would likely have gone unnoticed.

Credit to the Frenchman for keeping his cool to score at the second attempt.

Is this another false dawn?

You just never know what you're going to get from United.

They appeared to have turned a corner when they beat Sunderland, Liverpool and Brighton - only to then fail to overcome Nottingham Forest, Tottenham and Everton.

Winning away at Palace is a huge achievement given how well Oliver Glasner's side have been performing this term.

But it is another false dawn? That remains to be seen.