Manchester United vs Crystal Palace – Match Preview & Prediction

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Manchester United are preparing to return to Premier League action, after their last three matches in cup competitions. Important job was done in reaching the League Cup final and FA Cup fifth round, but now the league campaign is back on the menu and Erik Ten Hag’s boys will have plenty of reasons to get a valuable victory against Crystal Palace. Here is everything you need to know ahead of the clash at Old Trafford.

Team News

Man United have numerous problems in central midfield ahead of this match. Clearly, Christian Eriksen’s unavailability will hurt the most, as the Dane will be out until at least April due to an ankle injury. But he is not the only central midfielder out – Donny van de Beek and Scott McTominay will not be able to help either, as they have their respective knee and muscle injuries keeping them out. Also, Diogo Dalot is still a doubt after a hamstring injury, which should mean Aaron Wan-Bissaka will yet again get a chance to start and shine at right-back. Another important note is that Marcel Sabitzer, the latest United’s signing, could be making his debut after his deadline day move from Bayern Munich.

As for Crystal Palace, Wilfried Zaha will be unable to face his former club, as his hamstring injury could keep him out for the next six weeks. Nathan Ferguson is out due to a foot injury, while James McArthur has a groin issue.

Form Guide

Man United may have ended their match-winning streak against Crystal Palace in their recent encounter at Selhurst Park. They may have even lost the following match, against Arsenal at the Emirates, but since then, Erik Ten Hag’s side has started a new winning streak they will want to keep going past this coming game. A 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest in the League Cup in the first leg and 2-0 in the second leg, sandwiched the 3-1 win against Reading in the FA Cup. Those convincing victories were much needed to progress to the next stages of the domestic cup competitions and now a potential win for the Red Devils could get the team closer to the safe place in Champions League spots.

Crystal Palace, on the other hand, are not doing great in recent times. They still wait to get a win in 2023, since their last one came on the last day of 2022, when they defeated Bournemouth 2-0 at the Vitality Stadium. Since then, a 4-0 loss to Spurs, 2-1 loss to Southampton and 1-0 at Chelsea, were only shortly stopped with two draws. The first one was the abovementioned one against United, with the other being 0-0 against Newcastle. They have not played a single game in the past two weeks, due to exiting from the FA Cup in third round and they could be fresher for this meeting with United.

Predicted Outcome

Considering United are in a great moment right now and only want to keep it going, this could be a good opportunity to earn important three points. With Palace stopping the Devils in the last encounter, they will be even more motivated. That is why we predict Manchester United will beat Crystal Palace 2-0.

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