The Brazilian midfielder entered the midweek match at Selhurst Park with four yellow cards to his name in the league this season, requiring only one more to earn a suspension.

Although the summer signing from Real Madrid was helping United to control the proceedings in his customary way, he eventually gave referee Robert Jones a reason to book him by obstructing former Reds winger Wilfried Zaha in the 80th minute.

At that point, Erik ten Hag's men were still leading 1-0 and despite his caution, Casemiro remained on the pitch in a bid to help the Reds secure all three points and a 10th consecutive win in all competitions.

Having earlier brought on Scott McTominay in a double substitution with Alejandro Garnacho, when the pair replaced Antony and debutant Wout Weghorst, the United manager added a third defensive midfielder to the fray when Fred came on for Christian Eriksen with seven minutes of normal time remaining.

Like his fellow Brazil international, the late substitute was also one booking away from a suspension.

Fortunately, Fred avoided a caution despite the frenetic nature of the closing stages, and could therefore be a contender to replace Casemiro in United's starting line-up against Arsenal.

Ten Hag's team selection for that titanic tussle will be announced at 15:30 GMT on Sunday afternoon, one hour before kick-off at the Emirates Stadium.

When asked at his post-match press conference about Casemiro's enforced absence for such a significant game, the United manager said: "First, this game [Palace] was important and every game in the Premier League is important. Every game is a tough game. 

"Casemiro is obviously a really important player for us and he is one of the reasons why we are in this position [in the league] now.

"But also last time we beat Arsenal without Casemiro. We have a squad and we have to fill that gap and make a proper plan.

"The squad have to fill it and make sure as a team we are ready to beat Arsenal.''