Whoever followed Eric Cantona into Manchester United was going to have the unenviable task of taking over from a club legend.

The mercurial Frenchman, who arrived at Old Trafford from Leeds United in November 1992, was the talisman as the Red Devils went on to win four Premier League titles and two FA Cups prior to his retirement at the age of just 30 in 1997.

A number of centre-forwards were subsequently linked with a switch to United that summer, yet it was Tottenham Hotspur's Teddy Sheringham that Sir Alex Ferguson eventually turned to in his hour of need.

The England frontman joined the champions with a decent goal record from his time with Spurs, but his first season in the red shirt would end up being a difficult one. He missed a penalty on the opening day of the season against his former employers and was only able to get his name on the scoresheet once in United's opening nine outings - away at Everton.

However, a home goal had so far eluded Sheringham, although he did break his duck during a Champions League group encounter against Italian champions Juventus in early October.

Then, only a matter of days after he had found the net against Juve, he opened his account in the Premier League as Crystal Palace made the trip to Old Trafford 18 years ago today.

The visiting Eagles had won just one of their previous six games and as a result they made a tentative start to the encounter, with United on the front foot.

It was finally Sheringham's moment in the 17th minute when the away side failed to clear a David Beckham corner and when the ball fell for the new United striker, he fired his shot beyond the reach of Kevin Miller from close range.

The home side then went on to double their advantage with what would prove to be the final goal of the game in the 30th minute. Beckham was again the architect, although on this occasion his dangerous cross was turned into the net by a Palace defender - namely Hermann Hreidarsson.

It sealed the three points for United and from Sheringham's point of view it somewhat kickstarted his career with the club. Following his goal against the Londoners, he went on to fire in five more in United's next four Premier League matches.

Man United: Schmeichel; G Neville, Berg, Pallister, P Neville (Irwin); Johnsen (Poborsky), Butt, Beckham, Giggs, Scholes; Sheringham

Palace: Miller; Edworthy, Linighan, Hreidarsson, Gordon; Warhurst, Roger, Roberts, Fullarton, Lombardo; Ndah