Man Utd vs Crystal Palace Prediction

As part of our weekend Premier League predictions, we examine Crystal Palace’s visit to Old Trafford. Palace have won just 1 of their last 7 league matches, but the two sides shared the spoils last time out. Read on with our Man Utd vs Crystal Palace prediction.

Man Utd vs Crystal Palace Prediction Match Overview

Following a hugely impressive run of form comprising seven consecutive victories, including a 2-1 defeat of rivals Manchester City, there was widespread talk of a title challenge around Old Trafford that was perhaps a little premature. Though progress has been made under the leadership of Erik ten Hag, and United have banished the nightmare of their early season form, a stodgy 1-1 draw away at Crystal Palace followed by an entertaining yet deserved defeat away to league leaders Arsenal has perhaps shown that Champions League qualification is a more realistic prospect. This is not to detract from United’s progression – Champions League qualification would have seemed like a distant and highly unrealistic dream following their 4-0 mauling away to Brentford, but the hard work to stay in the Champions League spots starts here. Fortunately for United, Tottenham at present are the only real obstacle to Champions League football, unless the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool can improve heavily.

Despite a run of form that has seen them win just one of their last seven Premier League matches, Crystal Palace will be quietly happy about their recent two outings. Despite only gaining two points, consecutive home draws against both today’s opponents and high-flying Newcastle will definitely feel like points gained rather than missed opportunities. Owing to a drop-off between themselves and 14th-placed Leicester, Palace find themselves outside of a relegation scrap but perhaps only for now. This latest clash against Man Utd follows fixtures against Newcastle, Man Utd, Chelsea and Tottenham, and they will be looking forward to more winnable fixtures to put some points on the board.

Man Utd vs Crystal Palace Team News

Injuries and Suspensions

Man Utd:

Might Not Play: Dalot, McTominay

Will Not Play: Eriksen, van de Beek

Crystal Palace:

Might Not Play:

Will Not Play: Zaha, McArthur, Ferguson, Andersen

Man Utd vs Crystal Palace Predicted Lineups

Man Utd (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Shaw, Martinez, Varane, Wan-Bissaka; Casemiro, Fred; Rashford, Fernandes, Antony; Weghorst

Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Guaita; Mitchell, Guehi, Richards, Clyne; Schlupp, Doucoure; Eze, Olise, Ayew; Edouard

Man Utd vs Crystal Palace Prediction Analysis

Home Advantage for United

Although home advantage is a well-documented phenomenon in football, United are in the midst of an incredible run of home form that was missing throughout the last few seasons. Even accounting for their early season struggles which saw them lose 2-1 to Brighton and 1-0 to Real Sociedad in the Europa League, United have defeated Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham at home in addition to drawing against Newcastle. In all competitions, ten Hag’s men have won their last 12 home matches and they will certainly feel that this is a tangible advantage against an opponent who admittedly did well in the second half in the reverse fixture a few weeks ago, but were reliant on a moment of magic from an Olise free-kick to get anything from the game. In a development that would have been almost completely unforeseen at the start of the season, United are defensively resilient at home, conceding five goals in nine matches and not conceding more than once beyond the opening-day defeat against Brighton.

What does this mean for today’s fixture? Well, Crystal Palace are missing their talismanic forward Wilfried Zaha, and have scored seven goals in nine away fixtures this season. You’d feel that Palace would be required to score more than once to get anything out of this match, and Zaha’s absence will be keenly felt in this regard. United are undoubtedly shakier away from home – perhaps this is a consequence of ten Hag prioritising familiarity with his main tactical system as opposed to developing ‘away day’ tactics. As a contrast to their brilliant home form, United lost 3-1 to Aston Villa, they were unconvincing although managed to pick up hard-earned wins away to Fulham and Wolves and retreated deeper and deeper against Palace and eventually paid for it with the equaliser. For whatever reason, United just seem to play with more verve and positivity at home and this is borne out in both the results and performances.

Palace in Attack and on Transitions

As we’ve stated in previous previews, Palace don’t like to hang around while in possession. This is evidenced by the fact that they are the most dispossessed team in the league while often not having a large share of possession. This may seem like a negative statistic, but this is attributable to the fact that Palace like to attack quickly, directly and run at defences which obviously will result in losing the ball a great deal. Arguably, United will lose a good deal of control in midfield via the loss of the excellent Christian Eriksen, who has been a key player for United for the majority of the season. Therefore, Palace will find themselves with more opportunities in transition and to get the ball quickly to their front four.

We expect that United will be able to cope with Palace though, this time around. As stated earlier, Palace will badly miss Wilfried Zaha’s invention and ability to drive at defences, and United just seem to play with a higher tempo and energy at home. While these may seem to be nebulous concepts, the eye test and the results they’ve gained would seem to suggest that teams find it much harder to play on the front foot at Old Trafford, with the exception of Manchester City this season. United dropped points by playing deeper and deeper as the match wore on, and perhaps ten Hag was overly-negative with his substitutions by bringing on both McTominay and Fred to protect a 1-0 lead when Palace were struggling to create many clear-cut opportunities. So we anticipate that the balance of play will be more even than many may expect, but that Palace will still find it difficult to create opportunities of real significance.

Beat the Bookmaker Man Utd vs Crystal Palace Prediction

A comfortable home win would seem to be in the offing here. United are a much better team at home than they are away from home, and it wouldn’t seem that Palace have the offensive tools at their disposal to score more than once at Old Trafford. Barring freak events such as a red card and conceding a careless penalty, we feel this will be business as usual for ten Hag’s men and a much-needed three points required to stay in touch with Newcastle and Manchester City and potentially put some distance between themselves and Tottenham, who have a tough assignment against City tomorrow.

Man Utd 3-0 Crystal Palace

Beat the Bookmaker Man Utd vs Crystal Palace Prediction – Man Utd -1 (Win by 2 Goals or More) Odds: