Manchester United host Crystal Palace in today’s early kick-off looking to get their Premier League campaign back on track, after picking up only a point from the last two games and having failed to score in back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since August 2007.
Having failed to significantly bolster their squad this summer, with the exception of Marouane Fellaini, and with the Manchester derby looming large on the horizon, David Moyes knows United can’t afford to slip up at home against newly promoted Palace, who boasted a rather unimpressive away record in the Championship last season, as they picked up 25 points from 23 games on the road.
Palace, however, won the last time they played at Old Trafford, knocking United out of the League Cup in 2011 and will hope to become the first newly-promoted side to beat United at home since Middlesbrough achieved the remarkable feat in the 1998-99 season and arrive at Old Trafford with their tails up following a convincing 3-1 win against Sunderland.
Wayne Rooney is likely to miss out as he’s still recovering from a head injury, as Moyes’ explained in yesterday’s press conference.
“He [Rooney] is in great physical shape. Obviously he has a cut right in the middle of his forehead which could split because the skin is very thin.
“But he has had his stitches out and it has knitted. We just have to see where the level of risk is with his injury.”
The United manager also has doubts over Rafael and Phil Jones, who have hamstring and ankle problems respectively, but he’s expected to hand Marouane Fellaini his Manchester United debut, following his £27.5m arrival from Everton which could see Tom Cleverley dropped to the bench after a couple of unimpressive performances.
Shinji Kagawa misses out again, officially due to illness, which means United are expected to line up with a familiar 4-2-3-1 formation with David De Gea in goal, Chris Smalling, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra at the back, Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini in midfield with Danny Welbeck and Ashley Young supporting Robin Van Persie up-front.
Former Palace man Wilfried Zaha should make the bench alongside Nani.
