Man Utd vs. Crystal Palace: Team News, Live Stream, TV Info, Ticket News

When Manchester United and Crystal Palace met at Selhurst Park in October 2015, they played out a 0-0 draw that will not live long in the memory. 

Alan Pardew believes things will be different this time around, or at least sees some improvement in United's recent form. He said, per Palace's website: 

"

I think they've steadily improved during the season. I think the manager there comes in for a tough agenda from the media - it always is at Man United - and every time he's tried to face it with honesty, you have to admire him for that.

I can only look at him from a professional point of view and I think his team's improved. As a manager that's what you're looking for: an improvement in your team.

"

He is clearly pleased with Palace's recent form, too, given he added, "It's going to be two teams who have got a good feeling about themselves."

Louis van Gaal's message was simple. Given the battle for Champions League qualification he said, per the Mirror, "We have to look to ourselves. We have to win, we must win." 

Date: Wednesday, 20 April

Time: 8 p.m. BST/3 p.m. ET

Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester, England

TV Info: Premier League Extra Time (U.S. only)

Live Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra (U.S. only)

Form Lines

Manchester United: DWWLWW

Crystal Palace: WLDWDD

Team News

United are ever-closer to a fit squad. Their website reported, "Luke Shaw, Adnan Januzaj, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Will Keane could be the only absentees as Ander Herrera is in line to return to the squad."

Pardew has suggested James McArthur could featured for Palace after a long layoff. He said: "Like all teams, you need your best players and we've got our best players back [from injury]. And today I've got even more good news because McArthur is going to return for this Man United game." 

The article went on to say Pardew "confirmed that Yannick Bolasie, Scott Dann, Joel Ward and Joe Ledley would miss the United game, but they all should return for the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday." 

Predicted Lineups

Given that both teams have an FA Cup semi-final at the weekend, trying to guess either manager's predicted lineup will probably not result in great success. Nonetheless, here is a go at it. 

With Michael Carrick having been rested for Saturday's game against Aston Villa, perhaps he could return here. Van Gaal spoke of the need to give Marcus Rashford some rest after that one, saying he had considered dropping him ahead of Saturday's match but decided the youngster's momentum was too great. If he is going to start at Wembley he should surely get a rest here. 

There are a number of other permutations—the possible return of Timothy Fosu-Mensah and a start for Jesse Lingard being two, but the above lineup seems a reasonable guesstimate.

Of course, given Manchester City dropped two points away at Newcastle United on Tuesday evening, perhaps Van Gaal will consider playing his best possible side after all. That would probably involve the inclusion of Fosu-Mensah and Rashford. 

Pardew's predilection for changing shape to suit the opposition means he could line Palace up in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3. The 4-3-3 above, with Jason Puncheon coming in off the right seems a possibility in Bolasie's absence. It would not be a huge surprise to see Emmanuel Adebayor included in the starting XI.

Players to Watch

Wayne Rooney's return to the starting XI saw him make an impressive immediate contribution. His long pass out to Antonio Valencia was crucial to United's goal against Villa, and he also slipped a nice through ball into the path of Juan Mata. 

His performance faded with his fitness in the second half, at which point Memphis Depay began to look brighter, with Van Gaal saying his compatriot was unlucky not to have chalked up a goal or an assist. A good performance from him could put him in line for an FA Cup semi-final start. 

For Palace, given the location of the game, plenty of attention will be on Wilfried Zaha, whose time at United was not a success. He has been an important creative outlet for Palace this season, providing an average of 1.5 key passes per 90 minutes of league football, though just one of those resulted in an assist.

With only two goals to his name this league season, he would surely love to make some kind of positive impact at the place where he failed to make an impression.

Key Battle

Against Villa on Saturday, facing what is one of the division's worst-ever defences, United were still unable to create much in the way of obvious goalscoring opportunities. The battle in central midfield will be key to changing this, as Palace's holding midfielders look to occupy United's, preventing them from breaking ahead of the ball to support the attack.

If they can do this, they will likely limit United's creativity, forcing yet another low scoring game at Old Trafford.

Ticket News

For ticket information on all Premier League games, visit the official site or go to the ticket page on the home club's official website.

Odds

Manchester United: 53-100

Draw: 7-2

Crystal Palace: 7-1

Odds for the game correct at the time of writing, per Odds Shark.

Advanced statistics per WhoScored.com.

Quotations obtained firsthand where not otherwise stated.