The Red Devils were on a purple patch since the Caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over. The dream run faced a few hurdles as they faced a 0-2 drubbing against PSG and a goalless draw against Liverpool at home. Meanwhile, the Red Devils visit Selhurst Park for the Crystal Palace Vs United fixture tonight.
Not only these hurdles hurt their title campaign, but also provided major injury blows to the side. With close to 10 starters out with injury, it remains to be seen who get a nod for the Crystal Palace Vs United Premier League clash.
In a span of 20 minutes in the United-Liverpool game, Ander Herrera, Juan Mata, and Jesse Lingard all went limping off. Marcus Rashford was seen a bit iffy in his runs due to a troubled hamstring.
Antonio Valencia and Matteo Darmian are doubtful as they continue to miss out on training sessions. This could well make way for young prodigies waiting to make it to the first-team.
Mason Greenwood, one of the bright stars at the academy could have made the subs had he not been injured. Given the extent of the injury crisis, prospects like Tahith Chong, James Garner, and Angel Gomes could make the setup for the Crystal Palace Vs United clash.
Man United have a long list of injuries going into their clash against Crystal Palace 😬
🚑 Rashford
🚑 Lingard
🚑 Martial
🚑 Herrera
🚑 Mata
🚑 Matic
🚑 Darmian
🚑 Valencia
🤒 Jones #PL pic.twitter.com/tUdI5Y3m1K— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) February 27, 2019
Marcus Rojo, another injury-laden full-back is set to return to the fold.
David de Gea making it to the mix is a no-brainer for Solskjaer while the defense too seems to pick themselves. Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof could form the central defense with Luke Shaw and Ashley Young supporting them from either side.
The midfield remains a huge gaping void due to the triple injury blow in the last game. United will be forced to go in with an inexperienced midfield with Scott McTominay, Paul Pogba, and Fred. A slightly vulnerable midfield but, quite promising.
Andreas Pereira, one of the prospects who has been getting a lot of nods under Solksjaer is expected to be the premier center forward with Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez playing as the wingers.
Solsjkaer was aware that Crystal Palace is coming on the back of a splendid win against Leicester City. He is aware of the threat they possess. He was quoted as saying:
“They’ve been very, very good. Of course, the game against Leicester, that [4-1] win, was impressive. The way Roy sets up his teams, we know that. We have to be good on the ball, break them down but we know on the counter-attack with Zaha, Townsend, Batshuayi, Benteke, they’ve got some pace and counter-attacking threat, so we’ve got to be at our best.”
Solskjaer made it pretty clear they would field a strong side for the Crystal Palace Vs United at the Selhurst Park.
“We’ll have a good team on the pitch [vs Palace], definitely. There’ll be a chance for others. I’ve been sat on the outside getting a chance [as a player] when this has happened, so we’d rather have to say players who came in.”
“Scott [McTominay] and Andy (Pereira), I thought they did fantastic [against Liverpool], so there you go, that’s the way it is. You’ve just got to be ready when you get it.”
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The Crystal Palace Vs United game could have been a dead rubber had United played a full-strength squad but these string of injuries has opened the gates for Crystal Palace to test themselves against a vulnerable but yet promising United side.
What remains to be seen is the kind of spirit Devils show with a lot of probable starters out for the upcoming weeks.
