Crystal Palace-Manchester United Preview

Erik ten Hag's preparations for Manchester United's clash with Crystal Palace have been disrupted by an injury blow for Lisandro Martinez.

Palace head to Old Trafford for the second time in the space of four days following a defeat in the EFL Cup on Tuesday.

But United have confirmed Martinez could now be out for up to two months after he aggravated a foot injury he sustained in April.

Ten Hag will be without the defender against Palace, but United's boss confirmed other players will be back in the fold.

"We have seen some players back on Tuesday," he said. "For (Saturday) the players who were out of the squad for Tuesday, Scott McTominay and Christian Eriksen, they are back."

Ten Hag believes the strain placed on players by a hectic schedule will only result in more injuries.

"We already expanded the squad this season," he said. "We had a World Cup in the middle of (last) season, so we had a longer season. We had to play a longer season as well because of the FA Cup (final) then nations games, so a shorter break.

"Every time the shadow is expanding, and the load on the players is just too much. It's such a great overload. But many colleagues have already pointed to that, and I have pointed to that as well. But it kept going, we keep expanding the shadow, but anywhere it will stop and players can't deal any more with this overload."

After a period of absence, Antony – who has been under investigation following allegations of sexual assault – has returned to the club, though he will not be involved against Palace.

Manchester United – Bruno Fernandes

Fernandes registered his 80th Premier League goal involvement when scoring the winner against Burnley (46 goals, 34 assists), the fourth-most of any player since his debut. It was the 25th time he'd either scored (16) or assisted (nine) a winning goal, behind only Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane (31 each) since February 2020.

Crystal Palace – Eberechi Eze

Eze had three shots and created three chances for Crystal Palace, meaning he was involved in 86% of their efforts at goal in the game (6/7). Eze has the most shots and chances created combined (42) in the Premier League this season (26 shots, 16 chances created).

United suffered a defeat in their last home Premier League game, losing 3-1 against Brighton. The Red Devils have not lost consecutive home games since losing to Liverpool and Manchester City in October and November 2021, their last two home league games under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

United won this exact fixture 2-1 in February last season but haven't managed to win consecutive league games against Crystal Palace since March 2018 (a run of five).

Having won 16 of their first 20 Premier League games against Palace (80%), Manchester United have won just three of their last eight against the Eagles (37.5%).

Manchester United – 51.3%

Crystal Palace – 21.3%

Draw – 27.4%

Updated September 29, 2023