Man Utd v Crystal Palace
Saturday 24 November, 15:00

Big week for United

The gulf between the two Manchester clubs was emphasised by City's 3-1 home win over United before the international break, which left Jose Mourinho's side trailing the leaders by 12 points in eighth place.
That was a further blow to United's standing but there is the potential to take big strides this week with a Champions League home game against Young Boys sandwiched between Premier League matches against strugglers Palace and Southampton.
Mourinho has several concerns, with Anthony Martial, Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Marouane Fellaini all having missed international duty, while Marcus Rashford limped out of England's 2-1 win over Croatia and centre-half Victor Lindelof has been suffering with illness.
Luke Shaw is suspended.

Zaha set to return

Palace are winless in seven Premier League games and have sunk to 16th in the table, clear of the relegation zone only on goal difference, and it is possible they will be in the bottom three by the end of play.
The Eagles are massively reliant on Wilfried Zaha, who looks set to return from a hamstring injury having missed the 1-0 home defeat by Tottenham before the international break.
This is a big occasion for Zaha as he tries to revive Palace on this return to Old Trafford, where he failed to break into the first team before going back to Palace on a permanent basis in 2015.
Roy Hodgson will also be hoping to have a full-strength defence to call on, with right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka having withdrawn from the England Under-21 squad due to a shoulder injury and centre-half James Tomkins having had a knock to his knee.

Form favours United

United had a bad opening six weeks of the season with defeats by Brighton, Tottenham and West Ham but their only losses in their past eight matches in all competitions were against top-class opponents Juventus and City, and their best results in that run have been a 2-2 at Chelsea and a 2-1 win at Juventus.
Few of their performances have been altogether convincing but their record against teams outside the big six is reasonable (W6 D1 L2) and at home they have won three out of fourwith one draw (1-1 against Wolves).
On that form United should have the beating of Palace, who have lost their last nine away games against the Premier League's big six and mostly by heavy margins, including 4-0 here last season and 2-0 the season before.
Opta reveal the depth of Palace's poor record against United and one of the standout stats is that United have played 18 Premier League games against Palace without ever losing (W15 D3) - the highest amount of fixtures one team has faced another in the competition without ever suffering defeat.
All of Palace's points under Hodgson have come with Zaha in the starting line-up and the expected return of their talisman is a major positive, but even that looks unlikely to be enough. Hodgson's Palace have lost six out of eight against the big six overall with Zaha in the side, including three out of three away.

Go for goals

Palace's matches against the big six usually mean goals with ten out of 16 going over 2.5 goals since the start of last season, including five out of seven on the road.
United's three home wins this season have all featured over 2.5 goals, perhaps a reflection of their defensive issues with the visitors scoring in each of them, and United to win with over 2.5 goals looks a good shout.
A step further looks worth the chance, however, and the recommendation is United to win and both teams to score at 3.05.

Opta Stat

Man Utd manager Jose Mourinho has only lost one of his 51 Premier League home games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday (W41 D9), with that defeat coming against Crystal Palace when he was Chelsea manager in August 2015. Palace are 9.40 to cause another upset here.
RECOMMENDED BETS
Back Man United to win and both teams to score at 3.05

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