The look of disbelief on Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag’s face when Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise curled a stoppage-time freekick into the net said it all on Wednesday.

Dutchman Ten Hag was on the cusp of becoming the first Manchester United manager since Alex Ferguson in 2009 to win 10 successive games as his side led 1-0 at Selhurst Park in the 91st minute.

Another couple of minutes and United would have gone second in the Premier League, six points behind Arsenal ahead of Sunday’s showdown with the leaders.

But then Olise cooled the title talk with a magical freekick that left David De Gea clawing at thin air and United paying the price for a lack of killer instinct.

United will feel shortchanged having controlled large swathes of the game, although Ten Hag said they had themselves to blame for not being hungry enough to add to the lead given to them by Bruno Fernandes.

“We have to invest more to get that second goal and then not be in that situation that a lucky moment costs you two points,” Ten Hag told BBC. “We were 1-0 up. In the second half we had a lot of space to kill them.”

To add to United’s woes they had a justifiable penalty claim turned away and, more damagingly, iCasemiro was booked late on for a rash challenge.