Manchester United beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday to earn new caretaker manager Ralf Rangnick a positive start to the Premier League.

The hosts grabbed the all-important goal 13 minutes from time when Fred curled his second Premier League goal of the season past Vicente Guaita.

The Eagles gave a brave defensive display as they sought to avoid a third consecutive loss, but this would prove futile as United, who were denied on several occasions, kept raiding the visitors area buoyed by the prospect of climbing up the League standings.

"I am very happy with the way the team performed, especially the first half hour, with the pressing, it was exceptional. The only thing missing was the 1-0 or 2-0," said Rangnick after the game.

"The way we defended, we had control of the whole game, the clean sheet was the most important part."

"These are the things we must improve. We need to keep clean sheets. With just the one training session, I was really impressed. We did much better than expected," he added.

On his part, Crystal Palace manager Patrick Viera expressed his disappointment at the loss, noting that a draw would have been a fair result.

"I thought the game would finish with a draw. Neither side created too many chances. When we had that chance with Jordan [Ayew] we didn't take it. Against the big teams you get punished. In these games you have to score those," he said.