Zlatan Ibrahimovic admitted he handled the ball as he set up United’s first goal last night.
The Swede used a combination of hand and stomach to lay on Paul Pogba’s opener from Daley Blind’s free kick.
And Ibra rubbed salt into the wounds by snaffling a late winner.
He confessed: “I think it touched the hand a little bit, then my stomach.
“The situation went fast. I tried to forward the ball to Paul because I saw he was free.”
It looked like United would have to settle for a point after James McArthur levelled for struggling Palace.
But Ibra bagged an 88th-minute winner — his 14th goal of the season — to keep the Red Devils hanging on the coat tails of the leading pack.
The Swede said of his winner: “I would prefer to do it earlier.
“The possibility came, it was a great ball by Paul and I tried to hit the goal. It went in and it gave us the three points. That was very important.”
Palace boss Alan Pardew and Eagles fans were also fuming as Marcos Rojo got away with another two-footed lunge.
The United defender went straight through Palace’s Wilfried Zaha — a fortnight after he cleaned out Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye.
The Argentine escaped with a yellow card on both occasions.
But former United and England star Owen Hargreaves said: “If there is contact he breaks his leg.
“That challenge does not exist in the modern game. He needs to stamp it out of his game.”
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