Manchester United need to start turning good performances into points

Manchester United go into the game with Crystal Palace on the back of a spirited performance against Manchester City but yet again we are talking about the problems in defence. Manchester United will be without Chris Smalling who is suspended following his idiotic sending off at the Ethiad and also Marcos Rojo who dislocated his shoulder in the City game and its unclear how long the Argentine defender will be out for with conflicting reports saying only 3 games while others are saying three months. Johnny Evans has not ben called up by Northern Ireland so one would think he is also unavailable to Louis van Gaal. Phil Jones is definitely ruled out of the game with the continuing shin problem he picked up. There are also doubts over the fitness of Rafael and striker Radamel Falcao who has missed the last two games with a thigh injury.

Michael Carrick looks set to fill at centre back alongside Paddy McNair although Tyler Blackett is available again. Rumours have been circulating in the media that Louis van Gaal has lost patience with Robin van Persie and is set to start 18 year old striker James Wilson. The media reports have stated that Falcao is out of the Palace game although that has not been confirmed or denied by the club. Paddy McNair and Antonio Valencia look set to start at centre back and right back respectively.

Crystal Palace haven’t been the same until they were last season following the departure of Tony Pullis as manager and the return of Neil Warnock as manager. Of course despite their struggles so far this season Palace are a dangerous side especially in wide areas where they possess the pace of Jason Puncheon and Yanick Bolasie. Palace will be unavailable to call on the services of Wilfred Zaha who is on loan from United and therefore ineligible to play against his parent club. Fraizer Campbell has also proved to be a useful addition to the Palace frontline adding more pace in the central attacking area and importantly goals. The Palace captain Milae Jedinak will be absent for Palace after he was sent off in their game against Sunderland. United beat this Palace side twice last season and will be expecting to do the same this time round.

United are currently on a run of no win in 3 games and will want to get back to winning ways. There has been no doubt about the spirit and fight shown by the United players in recent games but the performances need to be turned into points on the board. At the present time the gab between United and the top 4 four isn’t much and is easily cement able with a few wins but now its time to kick on with these good performances actually getting points and moving United up the table back to where they belong.

Predicted United Line up: 4-3-3

Score Prediction: Man United 3-0 Crystal Palace

I fancy James Wilson to score in this game he has looked very good when he has come on off the bench in previous games and really does deserve a start ahead of the frankly abysmal van Persie. For some reason Angel Di Maria has been getting some criticism for his recent performances but he shine against Palace and will be too much for them to handle.