Eagles look to sweep season series with United

Getting even

Revenge will be on the mind of Manchester United Wednesday as they travel to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace.

Roy Hodgson’s side dominated the opening fixture between these sides, winning handily 3-1 at Old Trafford.

Since then, a lot has changed as the Red Devils are in second place, looking to close the gap on Manchester City.

The Eagles are 17 points behind United at the moment in 13th place.

Lineup News

Edinson Cavani missed Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Chelsea and is unlikely to feature.

Scott McTominay returned to the lineup last weekend and should be good to go again for this one.

With the all-important Manchester derby coming up this weekend, don’t expect to see Paul Pogba.

The Frenchman is still nursing a muscle thigh injury.

That means Donny van de Beek could get another start for the Reds on Wednesday.

The Dutchman scored the lone goal for United the last time these sides met.

Phil Jones continues to be sidelined with a knee injury, while Juan Mata missed his second straight game with an injury on Sunday.

Roy Hodgson won’t be pleased this match got moved ahead to accommodate the FA Cup schedule.

It means his top goalscorer Wilfried Zaha likely won’t be ready.

The Ivorian is just one of many Palace players on the sidelines at the moment.

James McArthur, Connor Wickham, Jeffrey Schlupp, Mamadou Sakho, Wayne Hennessey, Nathan Ferguson and James Tomkins are all out with injuries.

If there’s one bit of good news for the Eagles on the injury front, it’s Nathaniel Clyne who could be ready to play.

Lost upfront

Football is a team game, but you wouldn’t know it when you look at Crystal Palace in the attack.

In their last four Premier League matches without Wilfried Zaha, the Eagles have just two goals and one win.

Last month Palace fired only 33 shots in their five games, the lowest number by any Premier League side ever in a single month.

In their last two matches, they faced 41 shots and attempted a mere six.

On Sunday, the Eagles had only two touches in the opposition’s box in a 0-0 draw against Fulham.

Palace has played 11 games in all competitions this year, failing to score in six of those matches.

Man United, meanwhile, has cooled off lately, going scoreless in their last two games in all competitions.

Keeping the streak intact

Man United are inching closer to Arsenal’s record of 28 straight EPL matches without losing away from home.

A win or draw Wednesday will put them at 21.

Historically Selhurst Park has been very kind to the Red Devils.

In 11 total visits to the Palace home ground, United has never lost, winning eight times with three draws.

The fact that it’s a midweek game also bodes well for the Red Devils.

They’ve won nine of their last 11 EPL fixtures played on either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

They were the victors in all six away games in that stretch.

Secondary Sources

At the start of the season, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer talked about the importance of scoring by committee.

So far, he’ll be happy to know his team leads the Premier League with 53 goals this season. 

Lately, though, they’ve relied a little too heavily on a few key figures.

In their past four games in all competitions, the Reds’ only goals have come from Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes and Daniel James.

All three found the back of the net against Newcastle and also in the first leg of their Europa League tie with Real Sociedad.

Scott McTominay and Edinson Cavani are the only other players to score for the Reds since their 9-0 thrashing of Southampton.

Without Wilfried Zaha, Palace has had to rely on other sources, and it’s been a rough go of it for Roy Hodgson’s crew.

Striker Christian Benteke got the winner at Brighton, his first goal since December 16.

The Belgian is second in goals for Palace this season with four.

Eberechi Eze has been a pleasant surprise for the Eagles since moving from Glasgow Rangers.

The man from Greenwich has three goals and three assists in 26 appearances for the Eagles this season.

Past History

Lately, Crystal Palace has gotten the better of Man United in Premier League action.

The Eagles have won two of the last three encounters versus the Red Devils.

Before that, United had the upper hand going unbeaten against Palace in 13 straight.

A win on Wednesday for Palace would mark the first time they ever won a Premier League double against Man United in the same season.

Match Info

Wednesday’s match from Selhurst Park goes at 8:15 pm. (JSL).