Read Daniel Taylor’s match report from Wembley:

Jesse Lingard, man of the match, also on BBC: “It landed nicely for me, I just had to hit it sweet and I did that. As a sub you’ve always got to be ready. Thankfully I was.”

And David de Gea: “Great game, great goal. We deserve to win this final. Now we have to enjoy. It’s a long time for Manchester without this trophy. We won it, we fought for it, we have it. It’s really good moment for us to finish with the FA Cup for the fans, the club, everyone. We are really, really happy.”

Juan Mata, also on BBC: “It’s more difficult on the bench in a final but we fought until the end. We never gave up and we have our FA Cup. It’s been a tough season but we have finished with a trophy for the fans. Today is a day to enjoy. The fans have had difficult moments this year but today we can bring the trophy home.”

Wayne Rooney on BBC: “It was a great advert for the Premier League. Credit to Palace, they’ve had a tough end to the season. Our determination got us through this. I’m delighted. It’s a special moment. I’ve been unlucky in two finals – I’ll enjoy tonight for sure. Winning trophies lifts football clubs. The fans have had a few tough years. Hopefully they enjoy this and enjoy tonight.”

120 min +2: Hennessey drives a long ball forward but the flag is up for offside. United fans are celebrating as if they have won it. Palace supporters have their heads in their hands.

120 min +1: … Zaha can deliver a pinpoint cross from the right. He overhits it – United win a throw and will use up some more valuable seconds.

120 min: There will be two added minutes. And it looks like the game is up for Palace, unless …

120 min: Bolasie finds the strength to dribble forward again. He makes plenty of ground but can only fire over.

119 min: Jedinak heads the ball out for a throw and United head for the corner. There is no big charge from Palace.

118 min: De Gea is out well to smother the ball from the feet of Bolasie. The keeper needs some attention but will be ok to continue.

117 min: Palace are shattered it looks and unable to muster the energy to find one more chance. Souaré and Puncheon somehow overcomplicate a throw-in.

116 min: Damien Delaney is playing as a centre-forward!

114 min: Palace, you expect, are going to pour it all forward. But now is the time that United should attempt to keep possession in non-threatening areas.

112 min: What a moment for Lingard. He runs towards the United fans, whips off his shirt – that will be a yellow card, son – and even Van Gaal is doing a jig.

111min: Valencia sends a low cross in from the right. Delaney can only half clear and Lingard pounces first time to absolutely hammer the ball into the net. Hennessey has no chance. No goalkeeper on the planet would have had a chance. From a goal down, the 10 men of United lead.

107 min: Zaha is too quick for Young – that should not be the case considering the Palace player has been on since the start – and he finds Gayle but the striker cannot get a clean strike away. Palace do, however, win a corner. It’s sent towards Mariappa but United clear and then break, where Lingard is the latest to be fouled cynically, by McArthur, who is booked.

And in case you were worried, Michael McIntyre follows this programme on BBC.

103 min: Rooney and Jedinak battle ferociously near the endline and the Palace man does just enough to shield the ball out for a goal-kick.

101 min: From the free-kick – a hopeful long ball – Blind carelessly heads to Bolasie. His shot looks to be creeping into the bottom left corner but De Gea is down to save, conceded a corner.

100 min: Fellaini is booked for fouling Jedinak. Take a guess which body part was used to take Jedinak down?

Yeah, it was his elbow.

99 min: Rooney, already booked, fouls Puncheon. He looks nervously at Clattenburg but it doesn’t come. And that is a good call from the referee.

98 min: I’ve lost count of the corners conceded by Souaré, who has been very good for Palace, but this is United’s 12th – earned off the left back following a Lingard cross headed for Fellaini. Blind takes but Hennessey convincingly punches away.

97 min: Rooney shoots hopefully from 25 yards. It’s nowhere near hitting the target.

95 min: Ashley Young has fresh legs still, of course, but lacks the gumption to produce something decisive. He runs forward but is put off by Ward. Young is still playing centrally, by the way, and Rooney is in a deep midfield position and Martial is on the wing. The Philosophy in full flow, folks.

94 min: The game has become … meh. Everyone looks tired and, perhaps, happy to settle for penalties.

93 min: Rashford’s injury is an impact injury and United’s medical team do not think it’s something to worry about. Good news for Roy Hodgson and England – potentially.

Who would win a dance off between Pardew and Bobby Martínez?

The attendance is 88,619 but there are hundreds in the posh seats who have disappeared for another sip of booze. What a waste of a ticket.

90 min +4: Zaha shoots after beating Smalling for pace, but can only find the side netting.

90 min +3: Dann is coming off, limping but annoyed that he is not allowed to continue. “Fuck sake,” he understandably mutters to himself. Mariappa is on in his place.

90 min +2: United are back to passing it sideways. But Valencia is caught dawdling by Bolasie. The winger, who has been very quiet today, tries to find Gayle with a diagonal pass. It causes no trouble.

90 min: Now Mata is coming off. Lingard is on for what now looks like an additional half hour. There will, however, be five minutes added on.

89 min: … and this one is offside. De Gea immediately spots Young in a two v one situation, sends a long ball forward but Hennessey is alert and races off his line to hoof away.

88 min: Zaha tries to volley home a Souaré cross but can only win a corner. It’s taken towards Dann but Smalling battles well, and gets to Puncheon’s delivery first – heading out for another corner.

87 min: Rooney is booked for sliding in late on Ward in the Palace half just as the Londoners were about to break.

This was Alan Pardew’s reaction to Palace’s goal.

And this is how it was scored …

86 min: Gayle has indeed come on, for Wickham, who looks shattered.

85 min: United are pouring forward now. Souaré eventually drives the ball out for a throw-in after ping-pong in the area following a Valencia cross from the right.

85 min: Dwight Gayle is about to come on for Palace.

84 min: United were just about to take Mata off, it seems.

82 min: Rooney charges forward – presumably not directed by Van Gaal. A cross comes in from the right. Fellaini knocks it on to Mata and the Spaniard shoots. It deflects off Ward en route but Hennessey cannot get down to his bottom right corner to keep it out. After 80 minutes of caginess, the shackles have been chucked off.

79 min: Puncheon brings Ward’s ball forward down and cuts inwards from the left. He is not tracked by United and fires an unstoppable shot past De Gea. Wow! And what a story that Puncheon is the scorer. And what a move from Pardew to drop him and, as he said before kick-off, make sure he had anger in his belly to use when he came on.

77 min: Palace have won a corner, via Smalling being placed under pressure by Dann! It’s now 11-4 to United in that stake. Puncheon will deliver. Fellaini heads it clear but Palace play the ball forward again and …

76 min: Wickham breaks forward but is barged over by Valencia on halfway.

75 min: Rooney played a couple of decent passes in the opening minutes. Since then he has managed the square root of nothing. Why not put him in his natural position up top instead of a winger?

74 min: This has all become quite stodgy.

71 min: First a Palace substitution: Puncheon comes on for Cabaye. And then Young comes on for Rashford … and goes into the middle.

70 min: Rashford’s day is over and he looks to be in a lot of pain. Ashley Young is coming on – but will he play centrally like at White Hart Lane or is Martial going to move in?

69 min: This is terrible news: Rashford is down injured. He hit the deck after a tussle with Zaha and, following in, Cabaye – accidentally, it appears – landed on the England hopeful’s knee.

68 min: Jason Puncheon is getting ready to come on for Palace.

67 min: Delaney is back in action. A deep Cabaye ball from the right is flicked on by Dann and his centre-half partner hooks on to the roof of the net.

66 min: And that is it for Rojo, who is replaced by Darmian and mouthing off to Delaney as he makes his way towards the dugout.

65 min: Rojo looks in a lot of pain but continues playing and somehow picks up enough energy and withstands plenty of pain to pick out Martial from a wide area. The Frenchman is crowded out.

63 min: Delaney bundles forward with a seldom seen turn of pace but when he loses control, he slides uncontrollably into Rojo. He’s booked. There was no malice in the challenge but it is a nasty one.

61 min: United win an 11th corner. Blind takes it quickly and it’s cleared … to Carrick, allowing United to push forward again. Valencia sends in a more threatening ball from a cross than any of Blind’s corners and Martial rises above Ward to head past Hennessey but not the post.

60 min: Another United corner – their 10th. Rojo’s delivery from the left towards Fellaini is put out by Delaney. Blind takes it, predictably, towards Fellaini. He knocks it back across goal where Delaney clears.

58 min: Cabaye will deliver another free kick from deep on the right. Palace’s big men pour forward but the Frenchman overhits by some way and can only find the arms of De Gea.

55 min: Cabaye teases in a cross from a free kick on the right. It is headed on (!) by Smalling to Jedinak, who cannot convert at the back post with time and space.

Undoubtedly the big story of the day!

52 min: United pass it sideways at the back. Smalling gets fed up and charges forward, passes to Mata on the right. The Spaniard waits for Valencia to overlap but it’s slow and United win a throw-in. It’s chucked to Rashford, who cleverly, instinctively finds Fellaini with a delicate flick … he shoots. But it comes back off the woodwork! That was a big chance spurned from United’s divisive Belgian.

50 min: The second half has started a bit calmer to the first. Fellaini has a claim for a corner after some, as Martin Keown says, slow and ponderous buildup from United. Souaré does well to shadow the Belgian and it’s a goal-kick.

49 min: The ball breaks to Bolasie from a defensive scramble. He tries to wallop goalwards but slips.

47 min: Dann rugby tackles Rashford 10 yards inside the Palace half and is booked.

A fair point

On BBC they are unanimous that Clattenburg has had a shocker and Phil Neville also reckons whoever was in charge of the pre-match entertainment has had a shocker too by keeping the players in the dressing room for a few extra minutes.

45 min: There will be a minimum of one added minute. Cabaye’s free-kick is sent towards Jedinak but Rojo hooks away.

45 min: Having been dominated for half an hour, Palace are finishing the half the better side. And, without doubt, will be relatively satisfied with their performance despite the irritations of Clattenburg. The ref now books Mata for a late and high one on Souaré.

43 min: Zaha, you sense, is going to cause Rojo significant bother now the United left-back is on a yellow card.

40 min: Now Ward is racing clear past Rojo but Clattenburg brings play back for a free-kick for a drag. He’s made his decision early but has blown his whistle late. Rojo gets a booking but Pardew is furious on the touchline. He’s right to be – his defender was about to get clear. That’s twice, Clattenburg warns Rojo as he books him. The referee could probably tell himself the same.

38 min: Carrick eyes the spectacular from 25 yards. His shot goes flying over the bar – the type of effort that leads to opposition fans standing up, spreading their arms and shouting “waheyyyyy!”

37 min: Then United attack and Mata wins yet another corner via Souaré. Palace clear, but only to white shirts in deeper positions. And United will build up slowly before attacking again.

35 min: Zaha is through after pickpocketing Blind but is denied by Rooney’s sliding challenge. Replays show Rooney fails to get any of the ball but Clattenburg is not up for giving a penalty. It looks like Zaha trips over himself and that is a good decision from the referee.

33 min: A big chance for Martial and a magnificent block from Ward. Rashford rampages down the right and sends a low cross to Martial. The Frenchman arrives on to the ball and hits first time with the inside of his right boot. His shot is headed for Hennessey’s goal, the goalkeeper looks beaten but Ward dives brilliantly to get in the way.

31 min: Zaha, under pressure, manages to squeeze in a cross towards Wickham from the right but Smalling gets in front of the striker to clear. Good wing play, good defending. We may be waiting for the first goal – but this has been a good watch.

30 min: Rooney attempts to find the hard-running Rojo, who overlaps Martial again on the left, but the captain’s pass is overhit.

27 min: Martial, hitherto quiet, loses out on the left. Zaha breaks but is then cynically dragged back by the Frenchman. A free-kick follows. Seconds later, Bolasie shoots low and hard but De Gea is a match to it. Then Palace pressure Carrick into giving away the ball cheaply. Wickham shoots but cannot threaten.

National anthem singer update

… or maybe she just missed her cue.

25 min: United win another corner, Valencia’s cross is headed away by Souare. From the delivery Fellaini’s header is deflected just wide for another corner. United have had 75% possession.

22 min: Valencia feeds Mata, who gives it to Fellaini. His control is poor and it comes back to Mata. His shot is parried away by Hennessey, but United go again.

20 min: Much better from Palace, who look fired up by the dismal decision from the referee to refuse playing advantage. Carrick is pressured into a shaky back pass towards De Gea, who cannot stop the ball going out for a corner. Cabaye delivers but Clattenburg gives a free out – correctly – as Wickham puts a hand in the face of Blind.

18 min: Cabaye’s delivery from the free-kick is deflected and De Gea is forced to tip the ball over the bar for a corner. Cabaye takes it but danger is cleared.

17 min: An absolutely baffling call from Clattenburg has given United a massive let off. Smalling is booked for dragging down Wickham but the Palace striker gets up first and reaches the loose ball. Clattenburg refuses to play advantage, though, as Wickham races clear with no defender around him and finds the net (De Gea had stopped playing and Blind was nearby).

16 min: Rooney looks menacing thus far. He picks out Rojo on the left with a magnificent pass but the wing-back tamely hits the ball straight into Hennessey’s welcoming hands.

15 min: Unquestionably all the noise from the stands is coming at the Palace end. They are creating quite the racket.

14 min: Martial weaves his way in from the left and feeds the ball to the right. United are dominating this without a clear chance opening up in front of them … until Rooney shoots from range. It takes a deflection off Dann and Hennessey nervously spills it. Thankfully for the Palace keeper, who has had a clanger or two this season, he smothers at the second time of action before Rashford can pounce.

10 min: But now United have a fourth corner inside 10 minutes as Rashford’s shot is blocked by Souaré. Blind takes again – low and hard towards the near post and Mata. Souaré slices the ball out for a fifth corner. Blind goes deeper this time, Fellaini gets to it first – under pressure from Jedinak – but the Belgian, whose shirt is being pulled a little, heads wide.

10 min: United continue with plenty of possession in deep positions. Palace are more than happy to sit back, defend resiliently and wait for opportunities to counter.

8 min: The third corner cannot produce a clearcut opportunity either.

7 min: Now Rashford goes flying past Delaney but the Irishman recovers well and concedes a second corner in quick succession. It’s short again from Blind to Mata. He feeds Martial again, who wins another corner off McArthur.

7 min: Rojo cuts in from the left but Zaha is alert and cuts his run out. United win their first corner. It’s taken short by Blind to Mata, who gives the ball back to the Dutch defender. He then sends a cross towards the back stick and Fellaini but Jedinak is close enough to quell any looming danger.

4 min: Now Palace attack down the left and Bolasie wins a corner. Cabaye’s delivery is comfortably claimed by De Gea.

2 min: United are getting plenty of early touches in: playing some short, snappy passes across the back. When they go forward, Rooney, in his new-ish midfield role, clips a ball over the Palace defence in an attempt to find the rapid Valencia. His pass has too much on it and the ball runs out for a goal-kick.

1 min: … and immediately the ball is sent out for a United throw.

A reminder of the teams

Crystal Palace: Hennessey; Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare; Zaha, Cabaye, McArthur, Jedinak, Bolasie; Wickham. Subs: Speroni, Mariappa, Sako, Puncheon, Gayle, Adebayor.

Manchester United: De Gea; Valencia, Smalling, Blind, Rojo; Carrick, Fellaini; Mata, Rooney, Martial; Rashford. Subs: Romeo, Darmian, Jones, Schneiderlin, Herrera, Young, Lingard.

Referee: The one, the only Mark Clattenburg.

The buildup to this has been amusingly shambolic. Let’s just hope the game does not follow suit.

Now it’s time for the national anthem. There is a woman with a microphone but she doesn’t start singing until towards the end and looks puzzled. It seems she missed her cue. How cruel to have her big moment ruined but you cannot help but laugh.

Here come the players! And Prince William and Greg Dyke and a sponsor.

As a couple of you quick off the button have emailed, Tiny Temper was not quite up to Bruce Forsyth standards. We will not be kicking off on time. Abide with me is just about to be belted out by the NHS choir, mind, which is something of an improvement from the dirge that preceded it.

Soon, a football match might break out.

And here comes Tinie Tempah – this is what’s it all about, eh?

The army are on the pitch, struggling greatly to straighten out a flag. Palace fans are waving thousands of flags, trying to make some noise. United fans are attempting to create a racket at the opposite end. The Wembley PA system is blaring music to try and spoilt it all.

In the world of fitba, Hibernians have won the Scottish Cup for the first time in more than a century by scoring in injury time to beat Rangers 3-2. Nick Ames covered it all. It was brilliant and if events at Wembley are half as good, we are in for a treat.

A very Louis van Gaal Louis van Gaal speaks

On his hopes for today: “I hope I shall fulfil the expectation but it shall be difficult. I want to lift a title here. The FA Cup is a very important title but much more important for club and fans. I’m very happy we are here and very close to lifting the title.”

On bringing Mata in for Lingard: “You have to compare always in the moment and at this moment we have compared. We think that how we play against Crystal Palace, Mata is more the man than Lingard. That’s why you choose. Next week it could be the other way around.

What to expect from the game: “I think we have to fight to the end and never give up. We have showed in this road to Wembley a lot of times we have scored in last minutes a lot of times. That is the most important thing I think.”

An emotional Alan Pardew speaks

On his Cup final history with Palace and West Ham: “You just think about the future. They are the past, I can’t change that but I can change the future. We are in a really good place today. We are going to give Man United as tough a game as in 90 if not more. We’ve got players we would never expect at Palace – like Cabaye and Dann, who are top, top players. We are the underdog of course but we have players that can hurt United. It’s going to be a good game, a good match up. I’ve come close – I can’t come closer than I did with West Ham.”

On leaving Puncheon on the bench: It was a tough call that. Personally we’re close,. It was hard but had to do what was best for the team. He’s got anger in his belly – that’s not a bad thing if he’s angry and comes off the bench.”

On emotions running high: “We’ve made it emotional. This team needs to understand how emotional this is for the club. It’s not another game. This is different. We’ve made it special, the whole build up. Now the only way to enjoy this is to win.”

Maybe Zaha is just a big Tinie Tempah fan and was honoured to hear him perform before the game on that preposterous, pointless, atmosphere-killing Wembley PA system?

Wilfried Zaha was in tears on the pitch a little earlier, being comforted by Jason Puncheon, leading to the social media rumour generator cranking up. He was dropped! The player of the year is not playing! How can Palace win this now! Err … well he does start and the club say it is because he received some emotional text messages.

Routes to the final

Crystal Palace

Third round: Southampton (a)1–2
Fourth round: Stoke City (h)1–0
Fifth round: Tottenham Hotspur(a) 0–1
Quarter-final: Reading (a)0–2
Semi-final: Watford (n) 2–1

Manchester United

Third round: Sheffield United (h) 1–0
Fourth round: Derby County (a) 1–3
Fifth round: Shrewsbury Town (a) 0–3
Quarter-final: West Ham United (h) 1-1; replay: West Ham United (a) 1–2
Semi-final: Everton (n) 1–2

Pre-match reading

What are the keys to today’s game? Dominic Fifield and Paul Wilson outline them: from the Fellaini Factor to Zaha’s taste of revenge:

Palace centre-half Damien Delaney was about to pack football in and turn to triathlon but a call from Dougie Freedman convinced him to move to Selhurst Park. He tells Dominic Fifield why victory today would be a two-fingered salute to the doubters:

But for Delaney to do that his defence will need to take care of United’s flying Frenchman Anthony Martial, who has lived up to his big transfer fee:

Welcome to live coverage of the 135th FA Cup final – a tie between Crystal Palace and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium. The conclusion to the domestic season should bring a guarantee of sunshine but at present Wembley is covered by a blanket of grey. We can only hope the game will have a little more colour.

Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United are favourites to win the blue riband for a 12th time against Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace, whose best run came in (you may have heard or read this week) 1990 where United provided the opposition. Have we all had our fill of nostalgia? Yes? Good – this is about the present.

Kick-off is at 5.30pm BST, confirmed line-ups will be along an hour from now. Meantime let’s have a comprehensive run through what to expect and how both sides reached the event. Do email or tweet your predictions – correct ones will win … my admiration for a few seconds.