Manchester United vs Crystal Palace – 04/02/2023
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Fresh from booking their place in the EFL Cup final, Manchester United return to Premier League action with a home clash against Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.
After 20 games, the Red Devils sit fourth in the table – level with third-placed Newcastle United on 39 points and three points inside the Champions League spots.
❓ ? @AnthonyMartial
⚽️ Our no.9 is now level with a club legend in our all-time goalscoring chart…#MUFC || #CarabaoCup pic.twitter.com/B7k31CbNpX
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) February 2, 2023
Meanwhile, the Eagles find themselves twelfth – seven points clear of the relegation zone and 15 points worse off than Man Utd.
Erik ten Hag’s side punched their ticket to the EFL Cup final with a 2-0 win against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, advancing with a 5-0 aggregate victory.
As a result, Man Utd have won each of their last three games across all competitions – as well as 12 of their previous 14.
When you look at the bigger picture, United have only lost two of their past 24 matches in all competitions and are unbeaten in their previous 14 home encounters.
Given that ten Hag’s men have won each of their last 12 games at Old Trafford, they will be confident of getting the better of Crystal Palace.
As for the Eagles, they head into Saturday’s clash on a five-game winless run in all competitions – having recorded two draws and three losses since their last victory.
It is also worth noting that Palace have managed to win just one of their past nine encounters, suffering six defeats along the way.
Patrick Vieira’s side can take confidence from the fact that they drew 1-1 with United last month, courtesy of a last-gasp Michael Olise free-kick.
That said, there is no hiding the fact that Crystal Palace have only won six of their 20 Premier League matches this season.
Head-to-head: Across the last nine league meetings between United and Palace, both sides have claimed three wins.
It is worth noting, however, that Crystal Palace have only managed to win three of their previous 21 Premier League encounters with the Red Devils.
Team news: With Christian Eriksen out for the foreseeable future, new signing Marcel Sabitzer could make his debut for Man Utd on Saturday.
On the flip side, Crystal Palace are expected to be without the injured quartet of Wilfried Zaha, Joachim Andersen, James McArthur and Nathan Ferguson this weekend.
Although Palace managed to rescue a point against United in the reverse fixture, the Red Devils shouldn’t struggle to claim all three points on home soil.
Forebet predicts that Manchester United will score over 1.5 goals and keep a clean sheet en route to defeating Crystal Palace.
