Manchester United 5-2 Crystal Palace: result and report

Premier League · Saturday 18 December 2004

Result

Manchester United 5-2 Crystal Palace

Premier League · Saturday 18 December 2004, 17:15 UTC · half-time 2-1

Manchester United · Crystal Palace · Premier League predictions

Manchester United 5-2 Crystal Palace: match report

Manchester United defeated Crystal Palace 5-2 in the Premier League on Saturday 18 December 2004. The half-time score was 2-1.

Paul Scholes opened the scoring in the 22nd minute. Manchester United's goals came from Paul Scholes (22'), Alan Smith (35'), an own goal by Emmerson Orlando Boyce (48'), Paul Scholes (49') and John O'Shea (90'). Crystal Palace scored through Danny Granville (27') and Joonas Kolkka (46').

Discipline: Manchester United received no yellow cards; Crystal Palace received 1 yellow card.

Going into the game Manchester United were 5th on 31 points from 17 and Crystal Palace 18th on 14 points from 17. Manchester United went on to finish that season 3rd with 77 points, and Crystal Palace 18th with 33.

Going into the match Manchester United's last five read D-W-W-W-W and Crystal Palace's D-L-D-L-L.

Data as of 3 Nov 2026.

Key events

  • 22'Goal · Paul ScholesManchester United · 1-0
  • 27'Goal · Danny GranvilleCrystal Palace · 1-1
  • 35'Goal · Alan SmithManchester United · 2-1
  • 46'Goal · Joonas KolkkaCrystal Palace · 2-2
  • 48'Own goal · Emmerson Orlando BoyceManchester United · 3-2
  • 49'Goal · Paul ScholesManchester United · 4-2
  • 65'Yellow card · Danny GranvilleCrystal Palace
  • 90'Goal · John O'SheaManchester United · 5-2

Team news

Manchester United expected line-up

Roy Carroll, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Darren Fletcher, Quinton Fortune Kolobea, Louis Saha, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gary Neville, Ruud van Nistelrooy