Manchester United vs Crystal Palace

Manchester United and Crystal Palace are set to square off at Old Trafford in an exciting League Cup round-two showdown.

Manchester United put a dreadful three-game losing run in all competitions to bed with a hard-fought 1-0 win at newly-promoted Burnley last weekend, salvaging manager Erik ten Hag’s job for now. A clean sheet at Turf Moor was a significant achievement for the ‘Red Devils’ after they conceded 2+ goals in five consecutive matches across all competitions (W1, L4). Facing Crystal Palace has been an awkward task for Man Utd lately after a long-standing dominance in this fixture beforehand, with Ten Hag’s lads going winless in two of their last three competitive H2Hs (W1, D1, L1). They’ve at least gone from back-to-back H2H defeats at Old Trafford to two straight victories, both of which yielded single-goal margins, suggesting a keenly-contested game could be in store.

In the meantime, Crystal Palace should consider themselves lucky for getting away with a point in a tepid 0-0 draw against Fulham at the weekend, given the high amount of chances they conceded in that encounter. That result forms part of Palace’s evenly-balanced record at the start of the new Premier League campaign (W2, D2, L2) and suits Roy Hodgson’s defensive-minded football. Indeed, three of Palace’s six top-flight outings this season have featured under 1.5 goals, highlighting the potential for a low-scoring contest. That said, they pulled off a sensational second-half comeback to overcome Plymouth 4-2 despite trailing by two goals to nil until the hour mark. But after that success, they slumped to a 3-1 loss at Aston Villa on their last travel.