Crystal Palace vs Manchester United 17/07/20

17 July 2020

Out-of-form Crystal Palace meet near-unstoppable Manchester United at Selhurst Park, desperate to replicate a performance that brought them a 2-1 win in the reverse fixture.

The hosts have suffered a notable dip in form lately, going from four consecutive Premier League triumphs to five straight defeats, four of which saw Crystal Palace draw a blank. It will be a daunting prospect for Roy Hodgson’s team to find the way out of this crisis now, as the Eagles take on a side they’ve lost to in eight of 11 top-flight H2Hs held at this venue since 1991 (D3), including the last three. The ‘clean-sheet’ theme will play a vital part, though, given that five of Palace’s previous six Premier League home fixtures have seen the winner on the day preserve a blank sheet (W2, L4), with four of those results (win/loss) yielding the identical 1-0 scoreline.

On the other hand, Manchester United’s run of four Premier League triumphs ended last time out, as they played out a 2-2 home draw with Southampton. Still, the visitors are enjoying a purple patch of form, having avoided defeat in 18 of their previous matches in various competitions (W12, D6). What’s more, free-scoring United have scored in both halves in each of their last five Premier League outings, netting an average of 3.2 goals across those clashes. In turn, the Red Devils have found the net in 11 successive trips in all competitions, bagging over 2.5 goals in four of the last six such fixtures.