This week’s Monday Night Football sees Crystal Palace host Manchester United at Selhurst Park in the Premier League.
Palace come into this match in 18th, after a point lifted Southampton above the drop zone.
Manchester United meanwhile are in a top four fight and know victory will put them back into second place.
Team news
Crystal Palace are set to welcome defensive duo, Martin Kelly and Jeffery Schlupp back from injury.
Several players however are still ruled out including; Connor Wickham (cruciate ligament), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (ankle) and Wilfried Zaha (knee).
Yohan Cabaye and Scott Dann will be handed a suspension if pick up a fifth yellow card here.
Manchester United are still without Phil Jones so Victor Lindelof could continue to deputise in defence.
Eric Bailly meanwhile is back to full fitness so could feature.
Daley Blind (malleolar) , Marouane Fellaini (knee) and Andre Herrera (thigh) are all ruled out of this match.
Striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is doubtful as he continues to recover from knee surgery.
Form
After taking 14 points from eight games between post November international break and pre festive fixtures, Palace have taken just nine points from their last nine league matches.
At home, they have a (W1 D2 L2) from five post Xmas games compared to (W1 D1 L2) away.
Manchester United have been inconsistent lately, losing their last two away league games whilst winning their last two at home.
Despite drawing blank on their last two league trips away, United have had six different away scorers with Jesse Lingard top on five goals from the previous six away games.
Stat Attack
- Out of a possible 51 points from 17 Premier League meetings in this fixture, Palace have taken only three points against Manchester United.
- The three points all came from draws at Selhurst Park (1-1 in Jan 1995, 0-0 in March 2005 & 0-0 in October 2015).
- United lead the head to head goal record 12-3 from eight league meetings here.
- Man Utd have failed to score in two of three trips to London this season, scoring in a 3-1 win at Arsenal in early December but drew blank at Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur
Where game be won and lost?
| Per Game Average | Crystal Palace (home) | Manchester United (away) |
| Corners | 5.71 | 5.36 |
| Fouls | 11.86 | 11.43 |
| Shots | 15 | 12.21 |
| Shots on Target | 4.43 | 4.50 |
| Goals | 1.14 | 1.57 |
| Yellow Cards | 2.07 | 1.93 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 1 |
| Goals per First Half % | 43.8 | 50 |
| Goals per Second Half % | 56.2 | 50 |
Its tough to see where this match will be won and lost for either team.
United are slightly better defensively and in discipline but have one away red card to Palace’s none at home.
Palace look better going forward in attack but waste 10.57 shots off target and a further 3.29 on goal from their shots on target average.
Jose Mourinho’s side are more clinical with just 7.71 shots off target but waste 2.93 shots on target, which is just an average 0.36 less than what Palace waste.
That pretty much cancels out any advantage that the Red Devils have so its tough to say who will win this match.
Prediction
Given Manchester United’s recent away struggles, I can see a draw here.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-1 Manchester United
Jake predicts: Crystal Palace 1-1 Manchester United
Result: Crystal Palace 2-3 Manchester United