Manchester United: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer heaps praise on 'quality finisher' Romelu Lukaku

Lukaku capitalised on a rare start in his favoured central striking position to score twice at Selhurst Park

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer praised Romelu Lukaku for grabbing his chance after the Manchester United striker inspired his injury-disrupted team to a 3-1 victory at Crystal Palace.

Lukaku capitalised on a rare start in his favoured central striking position to score twice and help create United's third goal for Ashley Young as they recorded a club-record eighth successive away victory.

The Belgian has become more peripheral under Solskjaer, with Marcus Rashford excelling as the focal point in attack, but the England forward was not fit to start at Selhurst Park while Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial were absent.

Lukaku, who played out wide against Liverpool on Sunday, had gone nine games without scoring until Wednesday night, when he could have ended the game with a hat-trick.

United caretaker Solskjaer said: "He was through the middle. We created chances for him, he put them away well.

"He's done loads of running up and down the line, right wing, left wing. He's had a different role because of Rash's form.

"He got a chance up front. Two very good finishes, could have had another one as well earlier on, so I'm very pleased for Rom. He is a quality finisher.

"It's great to have him around the place, always happy, always working on his finishing. He's played more than you think, but he's played wide right, wide left, so it's Rash's form that has moved him out there. Now with Rash's injury he grabbed the chance."

Alexis Sanchez also started but again struggled to impress, furthering Lukaku's chances of retaining his place for next week's crucial Champions League second leg at Paris St Germain.

United's options were also strengthened by Luke Shaw's impressive performance from an increasingly attacking role from left-back.

Solskjaer said: "We want him to go forward. That's the next step for him to do.

"It was down to the shape we played with, because Anthony obviously isn't fit, and we played Alexis more inside with Rom, and it worked well, with Diogo (Dalot) as a wide right on the other side.

United returned to winning ways at Selhurst Park (Getty Images)

"You go into every game with these players that we've got, thinking that you have a chance to win. The next away one's against PSG. Let's see if we can continue."

While United were expected to struggle due to injuries, it was Palace's defence that was undermined with Mamadou Sakho and Aaron Wan-Bissaka both sidelined.

The latter's replacement Joel Ward scored their only goal at 2-0 down.

Palace manager Roy Hodgson said: "When we scored it was a result of the pressure we exerted.

"We made a few changes to try and get something from the game and as so often happens against teams of this quality they find a way of picking you off with a third goal.

"No doubt they're playing very well. Their organisation and work-rate was good. They do have some very, very good players on top of that and they sometimes find a way to punish you as Lukaku did."