Manchester United vs Crystal Palace
Barclays Premier League – Saturday 14th September, 2013 (12:45 KO BST) – Old Trafford
The Teams
United
David Moyes ahead of his fourth league game as Manchester United manager: “I’ve been pleased with a lot of aspects as to how we’ve played. I would have liked more points and more goals but I think an awful lot of our football has been very good. I’m hoping for that part of it to continue.”
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Wayne Rooney a doubt with head injury suffered in training ground clash with Phil Jones.
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Rooney would earn a place on the bench. “We’ve just got to see where the level of risk is with his head injury.” (Moyes)
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Marouane Fellaini set to make his United debut following his deadline day transfer from Everton.
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Wilfried Zaha could be involved against his old side.
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Rafael (hamstring) remains unavailable, while Phil Jones (ankle) also looks set to miss out.
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Darren Fletcher returned to training with the first team on Friday, but a competitive start remains a long way off.
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Being the early kick-off, a win could see United go second in the table, if only for a few hours.
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No further injury news following the international break.
Predicted line-up: De Gea, Smalling, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Fellaini, Valencia, Young, Welbeck, van Persie
Home record: P1 W0 D1 L0 F0 A0 Pts1
Home record vs Crystal Palace: P21 W16 D2 L3 F43 A14
Palace
Ian Holloway on taking on a David Moyes-led Manchester United: “It is the end of a legend… Ferguson has left a legacy behind him. But David is a fantastic manager and he has decided that is what he wanted to do. It was an honour for him to get the job and good luck to him, but not this weekend.”
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Picked up their first win of the season against Sunderland (3-1) last time out.
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Manager Ian Holloway serves the first of a two-match touchline ban.
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After a busy deadline day, the likes of Cameron Jerome, Barry Bannan, Adrian Mariappa and Adlene Guedioura all look set to make their debuts.
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Jimmy Kebe, however, looks likely to miss out with a groin injury.
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Jonny Williams (ankle) and Jack Hunt (also ankle) will be missing through injury.
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Glenn Murray, Yannick Bolasie, Jonathan Parr, Lewis Price and Patrick McCarthy also miss out through injury.
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Aaron Wilbraham, Owen Garvan, Stephen Dobbie and Florian Marange will not feature after being left out of the Eagles’ 25-man Premier League squad.
Predicted line-up: Speroni, Ward, Mariappa, Gabbidon, Moxey, Puncheon, Dikgacoi, Guedioura, Bannan, Jedinak, Jerome
Away record: P1 W0 D0 L1 F1 A2 Pts0
Officials
Referee: John Moss.
The 42-year-old official has taken charge of 2 Premier League fixtures this season, dishing out just 4 yellow cards and a single penalty (to Chelsea). Last season he brandished just 1 red card in 22 Premier League matches. Was last seen by United fans during Sir Alex Ferguson’s final home game as manager – the 2-1 win over Swansea.
Assistants: A Halliday, D England.
Fourth Official: Chris Foy.
Previous meetings at Old Trafford
United 1-2 Palace AET (30-11-11) – United 5-2 Palace (18-12-04) – United 2-0 Palace (10-11-04) – United 2-0 Palace (04-10-97)
Notes
Should he feature, Phil Jones will makes his 50th league appearance for Manchester United.
Four points from a possible nine is United’s lowest points total after three games since 2008-09.
This is the first time United have failed to score in back-to-back Premier League games since August 2007.
United have won six and drawn two of the eight previous Premier League encounters with Palace.
In their win over Sunderland, 12 of Palace’s 18 shots came from outside the penalty area.
Score prediction: United 3-0 Palace
One reply on “Match Preview: Manchester United vs Crystal Palace”
4-0, Evra to score first.