After a bitterly frustrating summer, Manchester United will be desperate to give their fans something to cheer about when they welcome Crystal Palace to Old Trafford on Saturday.
Premier League 2020/2021
Date: Saturday, September 19th
Kick-off: 17:30 pm
Venue: Old Trafford
Manchester United have had a summer to forget. Having failed to complete the acquisition of Jadon Sancho all through as well as having to deal with the off-field saga of club captain Harry Maguire and Mason Greenwood, it is about time things begin to look up for the Red Devils.
With their only pre-season engagement ending in a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa and star player Paul Pogba also missing training this week due to coronavirus, how worse could it possibly get?
It is not all doom and gloom though, as the arrival of Donny van de Beek from Ajax would bring a positive shake-up, and United can count on the enterprising midfielder to gel quickly and produce the goods alongside Bruno Fernandes in the middle of the park.
It can be recalled that United made their worst start to a league campaign in 30 years last term but having eventually brought the curtain down with an incredible 14-game unbeaten run, fans can be optimistic the team will resume in the same vein they ended the last.
They have won each of their last five opening day fixtures, and putting another win onboard here will mean they have won their sixth consecutive opening day match for the first time since 1910!
Palace come here buoyed by that slim victory over Southampton at Selhurst
Park last weekend, although they did fail to get past Bournemouth in the cup game held in midweek.
With a defensive crisis of some sorts leaving the visitors down to bare bones, Roy Hodgson and his wards face a stern test here, against one of the potential title challengers of the new season.
Moreover, it is jarring of their troubles that the Eagles have won just one of their nine away matches against sides who finished in the top nine last season (W1, D2, L6), failing to score in all six of those defeats.
Coincidentally, that solitary win did come against Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s side, although the two goals they managed in that game are their only goals at Old Trafford across their previous seven league visits.
Team news
Manchester United
Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe are injured, and will not suit up for the hosts here.
Crystal Palace
Christian Benteke, Gary Cahill, Nathan Ferguson, Patrick Van Aanholt, Conor Wickham and James Tomkins are all ruled out of this game with injuries for Crystal Palace.
Head to Head
Manchester United have accrued 38 wins in their last 57 competitive appearances games against Crystal Palace who have eight wins to their name. Eleven clashes have been deadlocked at full time.
Team form
United’s last five competitive games: DWWWL
Palace last five competitive games: LLDWD
Betting tips
United have not had the best of preparations leading up to their first game of the new season, but we reckon they should have too much firepower for Palace who are very much short on personnel particularly in defence. They might have shut out Southampton, but we fancy the hosts to make good on the First half/Fulltime win, which is priced at odds of 1/1.
Marcus Rashford is 7/2 to open the scoring here. The striker did just that the last time this fixture was played, a 2-0 result and we’re backing him to repeat that feat here.
