Lisandro Martinez spotted ‘trying to get into a bit of a fight’ during Man United draw vs Crystal Palace

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Manchester United kept another clean sheet during their goalless draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday evening.

However, it wasn’t a squeaky clean performance from Manchester United’s defence – particularly Lisandro Martinez who has drawn attention for the wrong reasons.

The Red Devils were dominant at Selhurst Park and were unlucky to not leave the capital with three points. Plenty of chances were created, but once again United struggled to score in the Premier League.

The defensive duo of Matthijs de Ligt and Martinez were impressive again, although the latter caused controversy when he was booked for a two-footed challenge.

United’s fiery Argentine has never been afraid to jump into a tackle, but he was inches away from receiving a straight red card.

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp has now spotted another moment against Crystal Palace where he believes Martinez was “lucky”.

Lisandro Martinez bailed out by Andre Onana vs Crystal Palace

United have now kept three consecutive clean sheets across all competitions and the defensive problems from last season are quickly becoming a distant memory.

Martinez has been at the core of United’s defensive improvement, but Redknapp pointed out that he almost made a costly error just moments before Andre Onana’s incredible double save.

Eddie Nketiah’s low-driven shot was saved by Onana and he brilliantly picked himself up to then deny Ismaila Sarr’s close-range effort.

When analysing Onana’s double save, Redknapp said on Sky Sports Premier League [21 September, 7:38pm]: “I will tell you who is lucky here – Martinez.

“You can see, for some reason, he is trying to get into a bit of a fight there [against Sarr].

“Sarr comes in, he follows it in, Martinez gets caught on the wrong side, he is the one who is hesitating. He gets lucky. His keeper bails him out.”

Martinez is caught up in a wrestle with Sarr just moments before the Palace winger gets a clear-cut chance at goal. Had it been turned in, his position and role in the goal would have come under fire.

Man United’s defence is rapidly improving

It would have been hard to make the defence any worse than it was last season…

But, United have taken a huge leap forward in terms of how they are setting up defensively. De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui have already turned out to be wonderful additions to the squad.

READ MORE: Man Utd are embarrassing the rest of the Premier League in one area, it will leave Erik ten Hag

It was extremely rare for Ten Hag to be able to pick the same back four in consecutive matches last season but we are already seeing that this campaign.

There is also quality depth at the back which will only improve when Luke Shaw makes his return from injury.

Facing too many shots on target last season was a nightmare, but that problem is being fixed quickly this season and Ten Hag deserves credit.