Casemiro's mindless red card turned a routine victory into a nail-biting finale as Man Utd held on to beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Old Trafford
Before the Brazilian was dismissed by a VAR review for putting his hands around Will Hughes' neck, United appeared to be in cruise control and led 2-0 through an early Bruno Fernandes penalty and Marcus Rashford's smart finish
But after they were reduced to 10 men and Jeffrey Schlupp's snapshot gave Palace hope of a comeback, they crumbled and almost threw away victory in the final minutes
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eberiche Eze both went close to stretching Palace's unbeaten record against United to three games, but United weathered the storm to limp over the line to a 13th consecutive home victory
Man Utd's long winning streak at Old Trafford harks back to the era of Patrick Vieira's playing career - and the visiting manager was as aware as anyone of the dangers posed by an in-form home side
With that in mind, VAR alerting Marriner to an accidental but blatant Hughes handball barely five minutes in, with Fernandes then sending Guaita the wrong way from 12 yards, was about as far as possible from the opening he wanted from his side
Things did get better for the Eagles but only once they had survived a number of waves of United pressure
 Wout Weghorst's header from a corner forced a strong one-handed stop from Guaita, and Fred was inches away from beating the Spaniard at his near post
Palace were wasteful with the ball when they did have it and could only muster a 25-yard drive from Schlupp in the first half
 They re-emerged with renewed vigour and enjoyed a few near misses, but found themselves 2-0 down to the move of the game
Seven of United's players were involved in the build-up around the edge of the Palace box, before a ball through to Luke Shaw was squared for Rashford to side-foot home
At that point, it seemed like United were cruising to three points, and they may have done had they kept 11 men on the pitch
 But once a VAR review picked up Casemiro's hands around Hughes' neck during a 20-man melee, everything changed
Odsonne Edouard fired in a warning shot within moments from 20 yards before Marc Guehi headed straight at De Gea from a corner
 Moments later they had their foothold, as Schlupp hooked Doucoure's wayward shot past the goalkeeper from close range
When Eze scuffed a presentable chance wide Ten Hag decided he had seen enough and moved to a back five - subbing off substitute Alejandro Garnacho to end a 28-minute cameo - but Palace still should have levelled
A cross from the dangerous Michael Olise was half-cleared by De Gea but returned into the area for Mateta, who had to hit the target from six yards but nodded over with the goal gaping
United held on unscathed through the rest of seven minutes of additional time to secure their longest run of home wins for more than a decade, and leave any problems caused by Casemiro's absence for another day
The player from Crystal Palace takes a big risk
 Antony could be badly injured by pushing him across the line
 Then everyone reacts - our players and their players
"There's a player who did even worse than Casemiro
 You have to be consistent as a VAR
 Last week when Eriksen was injured, no intervention from VAR
 Martinez was running for 2 weeks with a lump on his eyebrow after Mateta elbowed him when we played at Crystal Palace
 This isn't right
"Casemiro is protecting our player, and protecting the player, holding him back
 If Casemiro should have been sent off, many more players should have been sent off
""I didn't see the red card, I was far from it
 The game has to be played with respect, and sometimes when you don't respect your opponent, things can happen
"The player from United was looking for it, and he created this situation
 But it's about remaining calm, concentrate on what you want to do, and I was pleased with the character we showed today
"It was a tough game, really tough decision from the referees
 But we tried to play with a lot of discipline, we conceded the first goal and it was tough for us but we managed to stay into the game
" next face an unusual double header against old rivals  first hosting them at Old Trafford on Wednesday; kick-off 8pm
 They then travel to Elland Road, live on , four days later on Sunday February 12; kick-off 2pm
 host  in the M23 Derby next weekend on Saturday February 11; kick-off 3pm
 Their next game is a trip across London to face  on Saturday February 18; kick-off 3pm
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