David de Gea has reacted to teammate Casemiro picking up his fifth yellow card and consequently facing a one-game suspension for Sunday’s match.
Manchester United will travel to the Emirates at the weekend to face Premier League leaders Arsenal in a highly-anticipated meeting.
The Reds had the chance to move to within six points of the Gunners if they saw out a win at Selhurst Park last night and thought they’d managed it when Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring in the first half, however, an injury-time free-kick scored by Michael Olise has kept United in third. They are now level on points with Manchester City, who take on fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur this evening.
A goal that late in the tie can make a draw feel like a loss, especially given United’s run heading into the game of nine consecutive wins, but what added fuel to the fire was Casemiro picking up a yellow card in the 80th minute – ruling him out of the Arsenal clash.
De Gea unhappy with league scheduling
Post-match, De Gea criticised the scheduling of fixtures for United and touched on the Brazilian’s booking. He said (via BBC reporter Shamoon Hafez): “One of our best players cannot play one of the best teams. I don’t understand why we had to play today and they [Arsenal] didn’t, that could make the difference on Sunday. He is a big loss for us.”
Erik ten Hag’s side faced a packed week of action in which they took on rivals Manchester City on Saturday (January 14), Palace last night and now Arsenal on Sunday.