Manchester United will open their 2020-2021 Premier League campaign today, September 19 against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford by 17:30.
This season is expected to be the biggest for United’s coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who has been trying to build the kind of Manchester United that competes for every title and win most of them. He is expected to become the new Alex Ferguson of the club and he can only start looking like one if he starts winning titles like the Premier League.
The journey to that dream will start today and there will be no excuses for him if he doesn’t deliver as he has gotten some players who could make the United’s team more fearless especially in the midfield.
As for Crystal Palace, the 2020-2021 season is not totally new to them. They started their campaign a week ago while Manchester United was still enjoying their one-week extra break due to their Europa League engagement which ended for them in the semi-final stage.
Palace would want to continue with the momentum they started the season with which saw them win Southampton 1-0 in their opening game of the season on Saturday.
But in their attempt to do that, they will have to go through Bruno Fernandes who just won United’s player of the year award, Marcus Rashford, and Anthony Martial who finished last season among the top scorers in the league. And then, United has Paul Pogba who came back from injury last season like a house on fire; Mason Greenwood could also be available to spoil the party for Crystal Palace.
These names were instrumental in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s 14 games unbeaten run which saw them jump from struggling to make the top five to finishing 3rd on the league table last season.
𝗔𝗖𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) September 16, 2020
It's back!
Full video: https://t.co/CxI35yGOkQ#CPFC | https://t.co/utMcYSDkhb pic.twitter.com/BZhmaOzZ0t
However, Crystal Palace have players they can also bank on to do the damage. The likes of Wilfried Zaha can be big trouble for any opposing defense. Jordan Ayew and the club’s new arrivals Michy Batshuayi and Eberechi Eze can cause a lot of problems for Manchester United tonight.
Manchester United Team News
Paul Pogba who just recovered from COVID-19 is a major doubt for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. However, if the coach is sure of the fitness level of the French midfielder, he could throw him in to play against Palace.
United’s fans would be looking forward to seeing their new signing Van de Beek in action tonight. He played in the club’s pre-season friendly against Aston Villa which means that there is a good chance that he might feature in today’s game.
Another thing United’s fans will be looking forward to seeing is if Dean Henderson will be on duty ahead of the club’s first-choice goalkeeper David de Gea. The performance of the Spanish goalkeeper was highly scrutinized especially towards the end of last season which has opened the day wider for Henderson’s takeover.
Greenwood and the club’s captain Harry Maguire are another two players the fans would want to see whether they will be featured or not. Recall that Greenwood was sent packing from England’s squad after he went in with an Icelandic lady against the team’s protocol. While Maguire is currently serving a suspended sentence after he allegedly attempted to bribe Greek police officers while holidaying in Greece.
Manchester United probable lineup:
De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; Van de Beek, Pogba; James, Fernandes, Rashford; Martial
Final preparations ⚽️#MUFC #MUNCRY pic.twitter.com/oSulOwMc9m
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 18, 2020
Crystal Palace Team News
Crystal Palace will go into their encounter with United without Gary Cahill, Patrick van Aanholt, James Tomkins, and Nathan Ferguson who are all reportedly injured.
Also, players like Christian Benteke and Connor are in doubt due to their fitness issues. However, Roy Hodgson, the manager of the club could have Jairo Riedewald fully fit for the encounter.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace’s fans will be looking forward to seeing their new signing Eberechi Eze play his first Premier League match tonight.
Crystal Palace probable lineup:
Guaita; Ward, Kouyate, Dann, Mitchell; Eze, McCarthy, McArthur, Zaha; Batshuayi, Ayew
💪 Putting in the hours, @EbereEze10.#CPFC | https://t.co/utMcYSlISB pic.twitter.com/PJWSBbd6x4
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) September 18, 2020
