Andros Townsend missed a glorious chance as Crystal Palace threatened to grab a shock win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The winger raced onto a loose ball behind the defence and had only David de Gea to beat, but he steered his effort wide of the target.

It was one of several opportunities Palace had to claim three points against a very lacklustre United as they seek to end a now eight-match winless run in all competitions.

READ: Player ratings from Man United 0 Crystal Palace 0

Here are five things we learned…

Don’t conflate Palace’s impressive showing with United’s underperformance

The visitors were every bit as worth the point they got in a game that was too close for United’s liking, and really they should have won.

After Patrick van Aanholt scuffed his shot wide of goal when he was in acres of space, Cheikhou Kouyaté’s header seconds before half time was ruled out for offside.

This is a common grievance with Roy Hodgson side and, unfortunately for them, it applies again: had they been more clinical then it would have been a different story.

Arguably one of Palace’s best clean sheets this year

Given Palace have only kept one in all competitions this season, this one clearly stands out, and therefore we’ll talk about all of 2018.

Fans will be buoyed by the team having taken a struggling United that has – or rather had – lofty ambitions of winning the league title to the wire.

Wayne Hennessey pulled off some terrific stops to deny United and, despite the shaky start, the defence grew into the game and performed superbly.

READ: Man United 0 Crystal Palace 0 - as it happened live

Speaking about Hennessey…

The hosts couldn’t get past him. The only time they did was when Romelu Lukaku’s goal was ruled offside by the nearside linesman.

Jesse Lingard probably thought he’d scored when he went close yards from goal before Lukaku’s header looked destined for the net.

Both times, however, they saw the ball meet the shot stopper’s outstretched hand.

Let’s also talk about James Tomkins

It feels as though the defender is a bit of an understated figure when praise is dished out when speaking about individual performers.

Few in the squad have been as consistent and ever-present as the 29-year-old this season, and alongside Mamadou Sakho the pair are a solid partnership.

The next target for him should perhaps be scoring a few goals from set-pieces instead of constantly clearing them away from his own net.

Wilfried Zaha didn’t need to score against his old club to torment them

Every time he was on the ball United’s defence looked panicked.

The Palace talisman drew so much attention all game that it became extremely concerning when the visitors had any opportunity going forward.

He was more effective releasing other attackers, such as enabling Andros Townsend to race onto a through ball, and it scared the opposition countless times.

Maybe in the reverse at Selhurst Park we’ll see him score or assist a goal for the first time in six appearances against his former team? We’ll see.