Manchester United v. Crystal Palace - Preview

Manchester United will play host to Crystal Palace tomorrow in the Premier League as the Red Devils look to rectify mistakes made at Fulham in midweek and claim maximum points from Palace.

United were held to a 1-1 draw at Fulham on Monday, failing to capitalize on Chelsea and Arsenal's 2-2 draw. If United were t drop points in this game, finishing in top spot would prove an incredible task ahead.

Papa Bouba Diop's last gasp strike is still hurting the players United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admitted, saying: "I think the players were shocked by the result on Monday.

"When you don't take opportunities, you almost sense you are going to lose a goal and it was very disappointing."

"The one consolation is that there is a consistency about us and hopefully what happened will give us that extra push." he added.

Despite a dodgy start, Premiership newcomers Crystal Palace have been one of the surprise packages of the Premiership so far this term.

Iain Dowie's Palace side have only just found their feet in the Premiership however, getting off to a slow start then raising to a mid-table position, but recent form means they've slipped to 17th place.

Selhurst Park's hero Andy Johnson has been on fine goalscoring form recently, earning rave reviews that indicate he is ready to make the step up to international level. 

Eagles boss Dowie has said this prior to tomorrow's Old Trafford clash: "We certainly need to play better than we did against Blackburn, but that's behind us now. We need to play like we did at Liverpool, Villa and Birmingham, where we were tenacious, we were hungry but also played our football. If you give away the ball at Manchester United cheaply then they're going to keep it all day, so we must retain the ball better than we have been doing."

Duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Gabriel Heinze are both on Christmas breaks, meaning that young Irishman John O'Shea and young Scotsman Darren Fletcher are likely to take their place in their absence.

Frontmen Ruud van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha are still struggling with injury so Wayne Rooney and Alan Smith will lead the attack. Gonzalo Sorondo and Wayne Andrews are likely to return to the Palace squad.

ManUtdWeb Prediction: Manchester United 3 - 0 Crystal Palace - United simply have to win this game following their draw at Craven Cottage in midweek. I'm backing United for a decent win however. C'Mon United!

MUTV Coverage

Sunday 19th December at 12midnight, repeated Monday 20th December at 10pm