Crystal Palace-Manchester United is a Premier League Week 7 tie and is played on Wednesday at 21:00: stats, TV, formations, predictions
Two games in the space of just four days that can help to better decipher this Manchester United, which has suddenly become a contender again. Certainly for fourth place, whether or not for the title is yet to be seen, as Arteta’s Arsenal have no intention of stopping their run and are now playing in a league of their own.
However, Erik ten Hag’s team is without a shadow of a doubt the most in-form team in the entire Premier League and next Sunday has the chance to give another disappointment to the Gunners, whose only league defeat came last September with the Red Devils. The Dutch coach and his men, however, will arrive in the English capital a few days early, having to make up for the match against Crystal Palace, which was postponed four months ago due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Bruno Fernandes and his teammates arrive in London bursting with joy, and the autumnal misery caused by Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘tantrums’ is but a distant memory.
Ten wins in a row for the Red Devils
Saturday they returned to winning a derby after quite some time, overturning City’s cousins (2-1) in the last twenty minutes, first with the Portuguese midfielder formerly of Udinese and Sampdoria and then with the unleashed Rashford.
Olise
For Manchester United it was their tenth consecutive win in all competitions: it hadn’t happened since 2009 with Sir Alex Ferguson on the bench. Winning at Selhurst Park would also mean climbing to 41 points, overtaking both Newcastle and Manchester City and settling in second place. The Eagles at the moment give the impression of being a far from phenomenal opponent, having suffered four defeats in their five post-World Cup matches. On Sunday, Patrick Vieira’s men lost their second derby in a row: after 0-4 at home against Tottenham, they were beaten 1-0 at Stamford Bridge by a revived Chelsea.
The Prediction
In recent years Crystal Palace have often surprised Manchester United, but with the ‘ten Hag cure’ the Red Devils seem to be on the right track and in the recovery at Selhurst Park they will start as favourites. Against a defence that is no longer as solid as in past years – in this match they will almost certainly be without Andersen, injured against Chelsea – United should score at least two goals.
The likely Crystal Palace-Manchester United line-ups
- CRYSTAL PALACE (4-3-3): Guaita; Clyne, Tomkins, Guéhi, Mitchell; Schlupp, Doucouré, Eze; Olise, Mateta, Zaha.
- MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Shaw; Fred, Casemiro; Antony, Eriksen, Bruno Fernandes; Rashford.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 0-2
