Match Details: Premier League, 30/09/2023, 3PM Kick Off, Old Trafford
Palace travel to Old Trafford - again.
Just four days on from their last trip to Old Trafford, Roy Hodgson’s red and blue army face Manchester United again, this time in the Premier League. After Tuesday night's thrashing, Palace will look to improve on the defeat against the Red Devils in the form of a positive league result.
It is fair to say that Palace looked subpar against a second string Manchester United side on Tuesday night. The concern lies upon the fact that United can significantly strengthen ahead of the league game whereas you expect to see a fairly similar Crystal Palace side due to the potentially catastrophic injury crisis facing the club at the minute.
Palace vs Manchester United in the League has made for some interesting encounters over the last five years, Palace winning three, United winning three and two draws. Roy Hodgson is unbeaten in his last four league visits to Old Trafford should Palace avoid defeat this weekend he will become the first manager ever to go five league games unbeaten at the Theatre of Dreams.
The Treatment Room
Palace boss Roy Hodgson confirmed that it will be a similar squad to the one that travelled to Manchester on Tuesday night due to the amount of injures within the squad. Palace are expected to be without long term absentees Michael Olise, Matheus França and Nathan Ferguson. Dean Henderson is also unavailable after going off injured 19 minutes into his Crystal Palace debut on Tuesday night with boss Roy Hodgson revealing that the scans "did not look good". James Tomkins and Jefferson Lerma are both still out. There was no update provided on Jairo Riedewald’s fitness after being removed from the game on Tuesday. Odsonne Edouard (hamstring) is unavailable until mid October. Naouirou Ahamada is out after spraining his ankle in training.
Crystal Palace academy product Aaron Wan-Bissaka is unavailable for the game against his former side due to injury. Mason Mount and Harry Maguire are expected to be in the match day squad after starting on Tuesday evening. Jadon Sancho remains unavailable, however Anthony is clear to return to the Matchday squad. Sergio Regulion, Scott McTominay and Christian Eriksen are doubts whilst Luke Shaw remains unavailable. Lisandro Martinez is unavailable for the Red Devils.
Oppositional Analysis
United have had an unstable start to the season however they seem to be just hitting form with back to back wins including a 3-0 win against Palace in the Carabao Cup earlier this week. Once again, Palace are expected to struggle as they travel to Old Trafford because United are in the position where they can strengthen whereas Palace will be putting out a similar eleven to the one that started on Tuesday night with just five changes expected. If things go to the script you would expect a similar game to that on Tuesday night and Manchester United to walk away with all three points but Palace will certainly not just roll over and the return on Joachim Andersen and Marc Guehi to the starting XI will sure up the Palace back line which will be crucial to seeing Palace have a chance of getting something from the game.
Key Battle
Ayew vs Amrabat- Amrabat is not a natural left-back, having typically played as a box to box midfield player. However, three injuries to United's three left-backs have him in a makeshift role. He played extremely well there on Tuesday night and kept Ayew extremely quiet this proposition could be very different in the League. With Eze returning to the side, Ayew should receive some high quality balls out to the left hand side when Palace attempt to play on the break. If Ayew can target Amrabat’s lack of positional awareness from the inexperience of playing this position it could provide a nice outlet for Palace to get balls into the box for Mateta and co to feed off of. However, if Amrabat stands strong you would expect Palace to struggle going forward as they have a lack of good attacking outlets available at the moment.
TPW Predicted Lineups:
Manchester United: Onana (GK), Amrabat, Lindelöf, Varane, Dalot, Casemiro, Mejbri, Fernandes, Rashford, Højlund, Garnacho
Crystal Palace: Johnstone (GK), Mitchell, Guehi, Andersen, Ward, Doucoure, Hughes, Schlupp, Eze, Mateta, Ayew
Match Officials
Referee: Chris Kavanagh.
Assistants: Harry Lennard, Matthew Wilkes.
Fourth Official: Dean Whitestone.
VAR: Peter Bankes.
Assistant VAR: Eddie Smart.