Matchday 36 in the Premier League concludes at Selhurst Park as the Red Devils look to boost their European hopes. We look ahead to Monday’s game with our Crystal Palace vs Manchester United prediction and preview.
Crystal Palace vs Manchester United Stats: The Quick Hits
- The Opta supercomputer is siding with Manchester United ahead of Monday’s game, giving them a 41.6% chance of victory against Crystal Palace (29.5%).
- Man United have both scored and conceded in each of their last eight away Premier League matches, only recording a longer run between May and November 2001 (nine games).
- Jean-Philippe Mateta has scored in five straight home Premier League games under new boss Oliver Glasner. The last player to net in his first six home games under a manager in the competition was Alan Shearer for Kevin Keegan in 1996-97 (first nine).
Match Preview
The noise surrounding Manchester United continues to grow louder as they crawl towards the end of an unsatisfactory second season under Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman has described suggestions that all but three of United’s players are available for transfer as “a joke”, but there is no doubt many of his Red Devils are playing for their Old Trafford futures ahead of Monday’s trip to Crystal Palace.
The reports that angered Ten Hag suggested Rasmus Højlund, Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo were the only players safe from a clear-out, with the performances of United’s youngsters a bright spot in a turbulent campaign.
United’s hopes of UEFA Champions League qualification are officially over with four games to play. Last week’s 1-1 draw with Burnley ensured fourth-placed Aston Villa were out of United’s reach, then Borussia Dortmund’s midweek victory over Paris Saint-Germain ended England’s chances of getting a fifth spot in the competition, Germany joining Italy at the top of the UEFA coefficient rankings.
With the likes of Newcastle United and Chelsea breathing down their necks, United have a fight on their hands to secure European football of any kind for next season. They were masters of their own downfall last time out, André Onana clattering Zeki Amdouni to concede a late penalty, which the Clarets forward converted to cancel out Antony’s opener.
United have now shipped 77 goals in 47 games across all competitions this season, their most in a single campaign since 1977-78 (80). Their ratio of 1.64 goals conceded per game in 2023-24, meanwhile, is their worst since 1962-63 (1.75).
United were, once again, too easy to play through as Burnley fired off 16 shots at Old Trafford. Ten Hag’s team have only faced fewer than 16 shots in one of their 14 league games in 2024 – when two Bruno Fernandes goals rescued them in a 4-2 home win over Sheffield United (10 shots faced).
Fernandes – who has been liked with an exit in recent days – created 31 chances in all competitions throughout the month of April, seven more than any other Premier League player. He laid on nine chances against both Sheffield United and Burnley, becoming the first player on record to do so in back-to-back games in the competition (since 2003-04).
However, United could be without their creative fulcrum in South London after Ten Hag revealed he is an injury doubt. Jonny Evans and Anthony Martial are back in training but may not make Monday’s game, while Marcus Rashford is likely to miss out.
Palace are among the form teams in the Premier League, taking 10 points from their last four games (three wins, one draw) to guarantee their safety in style. Jeffrey Schlupp’s goal saw them fight back for a 1-1 draw at Fulham last week, while they have posted impressive wins over West Ham (5-2) and Newcastle (2-0) in their last two at Selhurst Park.
The Eagles have won three of their five home Premier League games since Oliver Glasner took charge (one draw, one loss), as many victories as they managed in their first 12 home matches of 2023-24 under Roy Hodgson (three draws, six losses).
Glasner’s arrival has certainly been a boost for Jean-Philippe Mateta, who has scored in all five of his home Premier League games under the Austrian (seven goals in total), having only scored in five of his previous 37 at Selhurst Park (five goals). The last player to net in his first six home games under a manager in the competition was Alan Shearer for Kevin Keegan in 1996-97 (first nine).
Mateta has a team-high 10 goal involvements at Selhurst Park this season (eight goals, two assists), with Michael Olise second on that list with eight (four goals, four assists) despite only playing 485 minutes on the ground. In his last eight home league starts, Olise has scored four goals and added seven assists.
Fellow creator Eberechi Eze is doubtful with a knee problem, though Glasner has previously expressed hope that Marc Guéhi and Jefferson Lerma could be available to face the Red Devils.
Crystal Palace vs Manchester United Head-to-Head
Joachim Andersen scored the only goal as Palace won September’s return fixture at Old Trafford. The Eagles now have a chance to complete their first ever league double over United.
United won eight of their first 11 away Premier League games against Palace, drawing the other three, but they have since gone three without victory against them on the road (two draws, one loss).
Ten Hag’s team have a poor record in the capital this term, suffering Premier League defeats at Tottenham (2-0), Arsenal (3-1), West Ham (2-0) and Chelsea (4-3). They have never lost five league matches in London within a single season before.
United have also lost eight of their last 14 away Premier League games in the month of May (three wins, three draws), with one of those defeats coming at Selhurst Park in 2022 in their final game under Ralf Rangnick.
Recent Form
Palace have won five of their last eight Premier League matches at Selhurst Park (one draw, two defeats), including each of their last two. They last won three straight home games in the competition in October 2022.
United, meanwhile, have lost just three of their 14 Premier League games in 2024 (six wins, five draws), though they have only won one of their last six (four draws, one loss) – against Sheffield United last month.
On the road, the Red Devils have both scored and conceded in each of their last eight Premier League games. Only once have they had a longer such run in the competition, doing so in nine straight matches between May and November 2001.
United have not lost an away league game on a Monday since going down to Everton in August 2012, going unbeaten in nine such matches since then (five wins, four draws).
Palace, meanwhile, have only won two of 22 Premier League games on a Monday since the start of 2017-18 (nine draws, 11 defeats), going winless in six since a 3-0 home win over Arsenal in April 2022. Will it be another Blue Monday for the Eagles?
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off on Monday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Crystal Palace vs Manchester United Predicted Lineups
Crystal Palace vs Manchester United Prediction
Despite United’s inconsistency, the Opta supercomputer is backing them to strengthen their top-six bid with three points on Monday.
Of 10,000 match simulations conducted ahead of kick-off, United won 41.7% compared to Palace’s 29.3%, with 29.0% of scenarios seeing the points shared.
According to the supercomputer’s season predictions, United face a battle to secure UEFA Europa League – or even UEFA Europa Conference League – qualification. They finish sixth in 38.4% of season simulations, seventh in 31.5%, and outside the top seven entirely in 27.9%.
Palace, meanwhile, finish in their current position of 14th in a league-high 61.9% of scenarios.
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