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Crystal Palace vs Manchester United – Match Preview, Team News, Stats, Predicted Lineups, And More

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We get to watch midweek football one more time on this year’s Premier League, as the 16th gameday approaches and most of the teams are in desperate need of points in order to close the gap between them and Antonio Conte’s Chelsea, a team that continues to roll past opponents while leading the table.

This time, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about the matchup that’ll take place against Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace and Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United, as both teams get into the 16th match in a must-win situation.

The local team is currently on the 15th spot of the Premier League table despite a good past season, while The Red Devils have been the biggest disappointment in football so far this year, although they’re starting to finally show some signs of improvement.

Crystal Palace and Manchester United Team News

Alan Pardew is reportedly keen to bring Newcastle United’s left-back Paul Dummett, as he feels the 25-year-old is the missing piece for their struggling defence.

Both James Tomkins and Bakary Sako will be assessed before the game, as both were ruled out of the trip to Hull with minor knocks.

The Eagles will be without Jason Puncheon, who picked up his fifth booking of the campaign during the 3-3 draw at the KCOM Stadium.

Meanwhile, Mandanda, Wickham and Remy all remain on the sidelines as they recover from injury.

Eric Bailly made a surprising return for Manchester United’s Europa League matchup but he didn’t feature in the Red Devils’ last game against Tottenham Hotspur, and he is expected to start the game.

Antonio Valencia won’t be available for this matchup due to a suspension, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan will also be unavailable due to his ankle injury he picked up against Tottenham.

Predicted Lineups

Crystal Palace

Hennessey

Kelly, Dann, Delaney, Ward

Ledley, McArthur

Townsend, Puncheon, Zaha

Benteke

Manchester United

De Gea

Darmian, Bailly, Jones, Rojo

Carrick, Herrera

Mata, Pogba, Rashford

Ibrahimovic

Stats (Taken from FourFourTwo)

 

  • Crystal Palace were winless in their three games against Manchester United last season, drawing at Selhurst Park but losing away at Old Trafford and at Wembley in the FA Cup final after extra-time.
  • Manchester United have played Crystal Palace 14 times in the Premier League and have never lost (W11 D3). The only side they have played more without tasting defeat is Charlton (16, W14 D2).
  • Crystal Palace have lost 11 times to Manchester United in the Premier League, more than any other side they’ve faced.
  • Manchester United’s only defeat in their last 21 games against Crystal Palace in all competitions came in the League Cup quarter-final in 2011/12 (W16 D4).
  • The Eagles have failed to score in 11 of their 14 Premier League games against Manchester United. Jason Puncheon is the only current Palace player to score for the club against the Red Devils.
  • Christian Benteke has scored five goals in his last five Premier League appearances for Crystal Palace.
  • Benteke has also scored in four successive Premier League appearances in the month of December (five goals in total).
  • Since the start of 2015-16, Manchester United haven’t won any of their six Premier League away games in London (W0 D2 L4), including a current run of three successive defeats.

Prediction

Both teams desperately need the 3 points coming into this game, but their current realities couldn’t be more different right now, as even if Jose Mourinho’s side is going through a crisis, they’re still more than capable of turning this around, while Crystal Palace needs to watch out if they don’t want to face a relegation scramble.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has come to life over the past couple of games for the Red Devils and he feels kind of unstoppable right now, providing a much-needed boost for the Special One’s side and finally making the impact we all expected from the Armenian at the beginning of the season, and United will surely be missing the trick in his absence.

The lack of goals of Mourinho’s team is still a concern for the Portuguese boss, so a matchup with a struggling defence as Crystal Palace’s could be exactly what they need in order to get back on track and leave those offensive woes behind, so expect them to attack early on this matchup and take control of most of the opportunities on their way to another victory.

Crystal Palace 1 – Manchester United 3