Palace Face Tough Test on Monday Night

The Monday night football in the Premier League this week features two teams at different ends of the table.

The hosts, Crystal Palace start the match in 18th place and are desperate for points to ease their relegation worries.  There are so many teams bunched together in the bottom half of the table that a win in this game will make a huge difference.

Manchester United begin the match in 3rd place but the league title has long gone as Manchester City have a big lead.  Therefore, it is all about the battle to finish second and win here would set them up nicely for the meeting with Liverpool.

Trends show Crystal Palace have one only one of their last seven matches in all competitions and need to start stringing some wins together if they are to move clear of the drop zone.

The Eagles have failed to win any of their last five Premier League games, with defeats at Arsenal and Everton plus a 1-0 loss at home to Tottenham Hotspur.  Crystal Palace have also picked up a point at West Ham United and at home to Newcastle United.

Despite their poor record, trends show Crystal Palace have been tough to beat at Selhurst Park and they have lost only two of their last twelve games on home soil.  However, Crystal Palace have scored just 2 goals in their four home league games.

Manchester United travel south to London on Monday night having come from behind to beat Chelsea 2-1 at Old Trafford in their Premier League game last weekend.

That result means Manchester United are unbeaten in their last three games in all competitions and trends show they have lost only two of their last twelve. The Red Devils have won eight of their last eleven matches in all competitions and kept a clean sheet in nine of their last twelve.

Away from home in the Premier League, Manchester United have not had things all their own way and have won three and lost two of their last five games.  They were comfortably beaten 2-0 at Tottenham Hotspur and suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Newcastle United.  The latter defeat will serve as warning to Manchester United ahead of this match.

Manchester United have failed to score in each of their last two away league games.

Team news and Crystal Palace have an extensive injury list which includes Wilfried Zaha, Connor Wickham, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jason Puncheon, Scott Dann, Bakary Sako and Mamadou Sakho.  They also have doubts over James Tomkins, Yohann Cabaye, Joel Ward, Martin Kelly, and Jordan Schlupp.  The on-loan Timothy Fosu-Mensah is ineligible to play against his parent club.

Manchester United will be without Ander Herrera, Marcos Rojo, Phil Jones, Marouane Fellaini, Daley Blind, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic but Eric Bailly could make a return in defence.

Given their list of injuries to key players and their poor run of form, it is difficult to make a case for Crystal Palace to get anything from this match.  The hosts will attempt to make things difficult for Manchester United but the Red Devils could come away with a narrow win to nil.