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Sport

12th Aug 2017

Man United youngster puts in strong contender for tackle of the season on opening day

Shame about the result, mind

JOE

Before we start, yes, Saturday afternoon didn’t exactly go to plan for Crystal Palace.

At home to the newly-promoted Huddersfield Town, the majority of those in attendance at Selhurst Park would’ve been expecting a home win.

This was not the case. An own goal from Joel Ward gave Huddersfield the lead – a lead they doubled through Steve Mounie before half-time. The 22-year-old Beninese striker added a second after the break, sealing a 3-0 victory for the Premier League new boys.

It was a rough afternoon for the Palace defence, but as some Manchester United fans on social media were quickly pointing out, there was at least one moment of defensive excellence from the home side.

Timothy Fosu-Mensah joined Palace from United on loan in the week. With 21 first team appearances under his belt already at Old Trafford, big things are expected of the 19-year-old Dutchman.

With Palace already two down, those watching Mounie put through one on one with Wayne Hennessey in the second half were given a glimpse of Fosu-Mensah’s talent.

Using his pace to catch Mounie, Fosu-Mensah timed a tackle to perfection just as the striker was about to pull the trigger.

You’ll have to wait for Match of the Day for footage of the tackle (Premier League rules are rules, folks), but the images below illustrate the distance the player makes up on his opponent before making the tackle.

  

United fans were getting excited…

https://twitter.com/Aaronoc97/status/896396690906808320