Crystal Palace vs Manchester United Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Oct 22, 2015 @ 01:53 pm

Alan Pardew looked a frustrated figure on the touchline after Palace suffered defeat to Leicester City particularly after being denied a penalty whilst Manchester United will be disappointed not to have taken all 3 points in the Manchester derby in a very poor game.

One defensive mistake in the entire 90 minutes at the King Power Stadium condemned Palace to defeat after Brede Hangeland gave the ball away with a miscued pass that was capitalized by Leicester with Jamie Vardy scoring the decisive winner. Wilfried Zaha was booked for diving in a decision looked dubious by Mike Dean as the Palace winger went through the middle of 2 Leicester defenders. Pardew now welcomes Manchester United to Selhurst Park where they’ve already lost to the other 3 clubs in the top 4 after narrow defeats to Arsenal and Manchester City earlier in the season and West Ham recently. Crystal Palace have lost just 4 away games under Alan Pardew since he took over in January this year and they’ve all been by the 1-0 score. Those 4 defeats are also the only time Pardew’s side haven’t scored on their travels.

The 170^th Manchester derby was hyped up with just 2 points separating the two Manchester giants at the top end of the table but it was a disappointing game to watch until it came to life in the last 5 minutes. Manuel Pellegrini was clearly content on getting a point with his 2 key players out and City had just 1 shot on target all game from distance. United themselves also had 1 shot on target but it brought a magnificent save from Joe Hart just moments after he was beaten by a Jesse Lingard effort that struck the crossbar. It was the closest either side came where United enjoyed the majority of possession. It was Louis Van Gaal’s 5^th clean sheet in the league this season and he’ll be satisfied with how his defence and midfield sounded out City’s £50million signings, Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne so easily.

There hasn’t been a draw played out at Selhurst Park since February and it has also been a decade when these 2 sides last shared the points. Manchester United have won the last 4 meetings against Palace. Two Frenchman are the current top league goal scorers for the two sides (Yohann Cabaye and Anthony Martial). Manchester United are top of the league charts in terms of passes attempted with 5752 in 10 matches whilst Palace are 18^th in this particularly area with just 3546 so fully expect Manchester United to once again dominate possession.

Dwight Gayle will return from a 1 match ban whilst Joel Ward, Connor Wickham and Marouane Chamakh should all be back from their respective injuries. Antonio Valencia picked up a foot injury in the Manchester derby and despite carrying on until the 81^st minute he eventually couldn’t carry on. It doesn’t look too severe but with Matteo Darmian waiting in the wings it doesn’t look like Van Gaal will take any chances.

Crystal Palace

Stats: W-4 L-5 D-0

Recent Form - WWWLL

Manchester United

Stats: W-6 L-2 D-2

Recent Form - DLWDD

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1) – Hennessey, Ward, Dann, Hangeland, Souare, Cabaye, McArthur, Sako, Puncheon, Bolasie, Gayle

Manchester United (4-2-3-1) – De Gea, Darmian, Smalling, Jones, Rojo, Schweinsteiger Schneiderlin, Mata, Rooney, Depay, Martial

Injury List/Suspended Players

Crystal Palace – None
Manchester United – Valencia (inj), Shaw (inj), McNair (inj)

Crystal Palace v Manchester United Head to Head

League Positions