
Fernandes warns Man Utd against complacency in top-four race
Bruno Fernandes says it is important for Manchester United to avoid getting complacent in the top-four race and continue to pick up as many points as they can.
United came from behind to beat 10-man Crystal Palace 2-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday, a win which saw them leapfrog Aston Villa into third in the Premier League table.
Maxence Lacroix's fourth-minute header had put Palace in front, but the defender was then sent off shortly after the hour for dragging back Matheus Cunha in the box.
Fernandes scored the resulting penalty before teeing up Benjamin Sesko for the winner. Since his Premier League debut in February 2020, Fernandes has both scored and assisted in 18 separate matches in the competition, with only Mohamed Salah (27) doing so more often.
United have avoided defeat in all five Premier League games in which they have trailed in 2026 (W2 D3), their best such run since November 2020 to January 2021 (five straight wins).
The United captain was delighted to keep their recent momentum going – they are now unbeaten in their last 10 league games – but warned against letting their standards drop.
"It feels like a big result, we were behind and had to show some character," he told Sky Sports.
"We were a little bit slow with the ball, but it was a good three points, and that is the aim.
"There are a lot of games to go still, and it is important that we don't feel that we are in the position that we need to be. We need to make as many points as we can."

Only Brentford's Igor Thiago (seven) has scored more Premier League goals in 2026 than Sesko (six), who had only scored twice in 15 appearances in the competition before the turn of the year.
"He's a very good player, we just wanted to get his confidence up," Fernandes added on Sesko.
"He is a kid that wants to improve. He is never just happy with a goal. He is very aware that he needs to score week in, week out for this club. Hopefully, he will have more goals between now and the end of the season."
Only West Ham (20) have lost more points from winning positions in the Premier League this season than Palace (19), with this the Eagles' second-most in a single campaign in the competition (23 in 2023-24).
Palace started brightly and were rewarded with their early goal, but the major turning point of the game was Lacroix's red card.
He started pulling Cunha back on the edge of the box, with the referee immediately awarding a penalty when the contact continued inside the area, and a VAR review then resulted in a straight red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
But Oliver Glasner was not happy with the decision to award the spot-kick, due to the fact the contact between the players began outside the 18-yard box.
"It is decisive when you are 1-0 up and then concede a penalty and then have one player less," he told BBC Match of the Day.
"The foul was outside the box, and the foul should be given where it starts, not where it ends.
"Matheus Cunha was very clever. We tried everything to get the equaliser, and we were in good situations four or five times.
"I think we played three days ago, and that impacts the game when you are one player down and the crowd gets back into the game at 1-1."











