Premier League preview and odds: Crystal Palace vs. Manchester United

Published on: 29/10/2015

Premier League preview and odds: Crystal Palace vs. Manchester United

October 31, 2015 15:00pm - Selhurst Park

Premier League

Crystal Palace will be hoping to put the brakes on a two-game losing slide when they welcome 20-time leagues champions Manchester United to Selhurst Park in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon. Palace still subscribing to win or bust philosophy

With over a quarter of the season gone, the word draw has yet to appear in the Crystal Palace vocabulary. With five wins and five defeats to their name, its all or nothing for Alan Pardews warriors. In fact, you have to go back 27 games to February of this year to find the last competitive match in which the Eagles played out a stalemate. That 1-1 draw at home to Newcastle was the only time that Palace have finished a game with a single point during Pardews tenure.

In the last Premier League match, they travelled to the King Power Stadium to face Leicester City and fell by a single Jamie Vardy goal. As a result, they dropped to seventh place in the table and are now just three points ahead of Stoke City in 14th place. That was their second straight league defeat and they made it three defeats in a row in all competitions when they were dumped out of the Capital One Cup by Man City in midweek.

Red Devils slip to fourth

Meanwhile, Manchester United will be looking to bounce back from their midweek League Cup defeat to Championship side Middlesbrough when they travel to London on Saturday. The Cup defeat summed up the inconsistent tendencies that have been a feature of Uniteds season so far.

Last weekend they put in a solid performance to earn a point at home against table-topping Manchester City. That draw reduced the gap between City in top spot and Leicester in fifth to just three points with 10 games gone. It also meant that the Red Devils dropped into fourth place behind a rampant West Ham side. Louis van Gaal will be keen to keep the pressure on his rivals but will be well aware of the dangers of facing the team from South London.

Team news

Palace will be without several key players for this clash including Pape Souare, Marouane Chamakh and Connor Wickham. Meanwhile, Yohan Cabaye will face a late fitness test.

United are still without Antonio Valencia and James Wilson as well as long-term absentee Luke Shaw. However, Paddy McNair could be available for selection.

Recent form (League)

Crystal Palace: LLWWL

Manchester United: DWLWW

Betting odds and tips

Palace are unpredictable at home having lost and won alternate games since the start of the season. If that pattern were to continue, they would be due a win this weekend. Uniteds away form has also followed a win, lose pattern since the start of the campaign and on that basis, they are now due a loss.

The bookmakers have the away side as favourites at a price of 11/10 with Bet365 but Palace will provide a tough challenge making them great value at the 3/1 on offer from Coral.

The home side have not drawn in 27 competitive games so that bet should probably be avoided.

Published on: 29/10/2015

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (29/10/2015 13:28:28) but are subject to change.