Crystal Palace promise action against ticket touts if evidence comes to light after Man Utd fan makes £700 allegation

United were allocated 2,687 tickets for the match, a figure that exceeds the league’s minimum away allocation relative to Palace’s 25,000-capacity stadium. According toThe BBC, Palace held back 40 additional tickets for internal sale, a practice the club describes as routine and one the Premier League is said to have no objections to. The controversy arose when United fans alleged that two of these internally distributed tickets were purchased for £700 in paper format. Palace insist their away allocation to United was issued digitally, but note that paper tickets are occasionally required due to technical issues. Palace have privately pledged to investigate allegations but maintains that no wrongdoing has been identified yet. As of now, United have not escalated the matter to league authorities, though they intend to raise the issue directly with Palace.

While the ticket row simmered off the pitch, United endured another dispiriting night on it, surrendering a lead at Old Trafford and failing to climb into the Premier League’s top five. A 1-1 draw with West Ham, who have won just once away from home all season, left Ruben Amorim visibly furious at his team’s lack of composure and control. Diogo Dalot’s crisp strike midway through the second half seemed to have set United on course for an important victory, only for Soungoutou Magassa to punish slack defending from a corner in the closing stages. The dropped points follow United’s shock defeat to 10-man Everton in their previous home match, deepening concerns about the team’s inconsistency. United were flat, unimaginative and fragile under pressure, especially with Bruno Fernandes struggling to influence proceedings.

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Amorim did not hide his irritation. In his post-match press conference, the manager criticised his players’ inability to maintain dominance after taking the lead.

"Frustrated, angry, that is it," he said. "After the first goal, we lost some second balls. We tried to defend all the time far from the goal. It happened long ball, they win the second ball against three guys of us so we need to be better in the second half. We are losing because of the second balls, sometimes it is not more men in front. We are really inconsistent but if you look at the goal, we have a long ball, we have everything under control, we need to do better. I always have the feeling that we have to score more goals and I'm sure about that."

His biggest frustration was United’s loss of composure after Dalot opened the scoring.

"We should have closed the game with the ball because the game was there to win," he told BBC Match of the Day. "I think the overall performance was not perfect. We had our moments but we lost control in the game in some minutes in the first half and in the second half, especially after the goal. The game was clearly ours to win and we had an opportunity with Cunha to finish the game off. It is really frustrating because you look at the game, you have the game under control and we didn't win."

United now have four days to regroup before travelling to face a Wolves side enduring one of the bleakest campaigns in Premier League history. With just two points so far, from 14 matches, they look likely to get relegated if there isn't an upturn in form soon. On paper, it is the ideal fixture for United to stabilise their form, but recent results suggest little can be taken for granted. After the trip to Molineux, United return to Old Trafford for a home match against Bournemouth on December 15. It is a game that may prove crucial if Amorim’s side are to repair their ambitions for a Champions League berth.