Team News
Mamadou Sakho and James Tomkins are unlikely to feature for Crystal Palace again this weekend as they both continue their recovery from injuries picked up late last season.
They are the only two currently unavailable players for Palace.
Gary Cahill could make his Palace debut at centre back if Hodgson decides to make changes to the team which lost 1-0 to Sheffield United last Sunday.
Victor Camarasa, who scored against Manchester United for Cardiff last season, is also yet to feature at all in the squad for Palace so he could play some part on Saturday.
Manchester United are without Eric Bailly, who is out with a long term knee injury.
Alexis Sanchez may not feature as he is lacking match fitness.
United otherwise have a full squad to choose from and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may start with an unchanged side from their 1-1 draw with Wolves on Monday night which will feature Aaron Wan Bissaka, returning to face his old club.
Preview
Fans have questioned Roy Hodgson’s stubborn tactics this week following a blunt display against the Blades.
The structured 442, which occasionally morphs into a counter attacking 433, has become so well known to Palace fans over the last two years and we have seen it succeed and fail in equal measure.
It is a formation that would arguably suit an away fixture at Old Trafford as structure will be key to contend the attacking pace and width of this young Manchester United team. But the directness of the United youngsters could cause issues for our back four lacking in speed.
However, we will all be wanting to see a backup plan if the structured approach does not produce. The main reason for this coming from the fact we are yet to score in our opening two fixtures and the fans will be desperate to see more attacking, creative play from the Eagles which was lacking in abundance last Sunday with only 6 shots registered on goal.
Key to this will be getting the ball to Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend more, whilst also providing them with more support to get further up the pitch in attacking areas.
Encouraging for Palace is that Harry Maguire has suffered against us when playing for Leicester over the past few seasons as he struggled to contend with the pace of Palace’s attack.
He and his fellow defenders conceded 13 goals against Palace in their last 4 fixtures so isolating him in 1 v 1 situations could be effective.
Form
Palace started well against Everton on the opening day of the season, securing a good point, but showing no signs of momentum last week, we will have to find more fluency in this fixture to get more points on the board.
Man United are unbeaten in their last two league games. A fine 4-0 victory over Chelsea in the first fixture of the season gave the Red Devils a dream start. But they squandered all 3 points against Wolves on Monday after Pogba’s late penalty miss.
Palace currently sit 14th in Premier League, while United are in 4th.
Previous Meetings
Palace earned their first ever point at Old Trafford in the Premier League era last year with a 0-0 draw, which we could have won if, surprise, we had been more clinical.
We have also never beaten Manchester United in a league fixture this century and the Red Devils are unbeaten in the last twenty league meetings between the two teams.