Manchester United will be looking to continue their perfect pre-season run when they take on Crystal Palace in their next friendly at Melbourne Cricket ground on Tuesday afternoon.
Manchester United opened have had a good pre-season so far in terms of fixture preparations with the side beating Liverpool 4-0 and Melbourne Victory 4-1 in their opening two friendlies.
They indeed look a different side under Erik ten Hag has also been active in the summer transfer market, bringing in now three new acquisitions starting with Tyrell Malacia from Feyenoord, Christian Eriksen from Brentford on a free transfer, and Lisandro Martinez from Ajax.
United will now take on Palace, Aston Villa, Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano in their remaining pre-season friendlies before opening the 2022/23 Premier League campaign at home against Brighton & Hove Albion on August 07.
The Red Devils’ will be under pressure next from their supporters after their worst-ever campaign last team, and thus Erik ten Hag will want to use the pre-season to build a good form so that the4y van hit the ground running next month.
Meanwhile Crystal Palace opened their pre-season tour last Friday, where they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool, but they had drawn against Accrington Stanley and beaten Millwall in their warm-up fixtures before the Liverpool match.
However, it is difficult to read too much into the defeat, as the Eagles have made the trip to Australia without a number of important players, with the likes of Marc Guehi, Wilfred Zaha, Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise, Christian Benteke, Will Hughes and Cheikhou Kouyate among the individuals not to make the trip due to fitness and visa issues.
The majority of those who stayed behind were involved in another warm-up fixture against Ipswich Town, where they claimed a 4-2 victory with Benteke scoring brace.
In terms of new signings, Palace have also brought in three new acquisitions, with Cheick Doucoure, Sam Johnstone and Malcolm Ebiowei coming through this summer, and are building towards their Premier League opener against Arsenal on August 5, and the capital side will be bidding to improve on last season’s 12th-place finish in England’s top flight.
Man United vs Crystal Palace head to head
Both sides have met in 27 encounters since 1994 with United claiming 18 victories while Palace have claimed four victories and there have been five draws.
- Crystal Palace 1-0 Man United 22/05/22
- Man United 1-0 Crystal Palace 05/12/21
- Crystal Palace 0-0 Man United 03/03/21
- Man United 1-3 Crystal Palace 19/09/20
- Crystal Palace 0-2 Man United 16/07/20
Home
- Melbourne Victory 1-4 man United
- Man United 4-0 Liverpool
- Crystal Palace 1-0 Man United
- Brighton 4-0 Man United
- Man United 3-0 Brentford
Away
- Liverpool 2-0 Crystal Palace
- Crystal Palace 1-0 Man United
- Everton 3-2 Crystal Palace
- Aston Villa 1-1 Crystal Palace
- Crystal Palace 1-0 Watford
Man United team news
Man United have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the fixture and Ten Hag is expected to majority of the squad again.
Crystal Palace team news
Crystal Palace will again be without the majority of the senior players who did not travel for the pre-season tour, but there are no fresh injury concerns ahead of the Tuesday’s friendly.
Prediction and odds
- Man United win
- Both sides to score
- Goals over 2.5
