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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Tom Doyle

Man Utd vs Crystal Palace lineups: Confirmed team news, predicted XIs and latest injury updates

Crystal Palace must find a way to keep Manchester United at bay today - but the pressure will also be on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Red Devils to make a statement at Old Trafford.

United have collected four points from their opening two Premier League games this season, following up an impressive 4-0 home demolition of Chelsea with a 1-1 draw at Wolves.

Plenty of United fans were frustrated by what they considered to be two points dropped at Molineux, with Solskjaer's side letting a first-half lead slip before Paul Pogba passed up the chance to win the game from the penalty spot.

In reality the Red Devils have already made up three points from those corresponding fixtures last season, but Saturday's match will pose Solskjaer a different type of question.

It is likely that Palace will sit deep at Old Trafford and look to counter with the pace of Wilfried Zaha, so Solskjaer may have to ease back on his desire for all-out speed and find another way to break down Roy Hodgson's visitors.

Solskjaer dropped Andreas Pereira in favour of Daniel James for the draw at Wolves, though Solskjaer could be tempted to bring back the Brazilian after his strong showing against Chelsea.

The United lineup which faced Wolves was the youngest Premier League XI so far this season at 24 years and 173 days old.

With the pressure on to unlock Palace, Solskjaer may opt for Juan Mata's experience rather than the pace of James on the flank, with Pereira drifting to the right and Mata sitting in the pocket between the midfield and defence.

Eric Bailly is out until the New Year with a knee injury, while Alexis Sanchez and Marcos Rojo could be on the way out and Diogo Dalot and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are also sidelined.

As for Palace, Hodgson's only two absentees are James Tomkins (groin) and Mamadou Sakho (knee).

The veteran manager may opt for a tactical reshuffle following a limp 1-0 defeat at Sheffield United last time out, though his plans are likely to weigh heavily on the pace of Zaha on the counter.

http://players.brightcove.net/1348423965/default_default/index.html?videoId=o8ym3Bg4hew

The Ivory Coast international may well lead the line with the likes of the fit-again Jeffrey Schlupp and Andros Townsend sitting behind to offer support.

In defence, Gary Cahill could make his Palace debut alongside Martin Kelly.

Predicted lineups

Man Utd XI: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof, Shaw, Pereira, McTominay, Pogba, Mata, Martial, Rashford

Crystal Palace XI: Guaita; Ward, Kelly, Cahill, Van Aanholt; McArthur, Milivojevic; Schlupp, Townsend, Benteke; Zaha

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