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Manchester United take on Crystal Palace on 8/24/19 at Old Trafford as our coverage of the 2019-20 English Premier League season continues.
Manchester United
Manchester United won 14 out of their first 19 games under former United player and Molde boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who took over from Jose Mourinho who was fired in December 2018. However, the success was brief and they ended the season in disappointment. Manchester United finished way far behind City and Liverpool. That kind of difference isn’t easy to overcome in a single summer but Solskjaer hopes that a fast start to the 2019-20 season is going to push his team to a higher level. Manchester United is the winningest club in English football with a record 20 Premier League titles and a record 21 FA Shields. They were also the first English team to accomplish the continental European treble.
Here are the players for Manchester United as of July 1, 2019:
1 GK David de Gea, 2 DF Victor Lindelof, 3 DF Eric Bailly, 4 DF Phil Jones, 6 MF Paul Pogba, 7 FW Alexis Sanchez, 8 MF Juan Mata, 9 FM Romelu Lukaku, 10 FW Marcus Rashford, 11 FW Anthony Martial, 12 DF Chris Smalling, 13 GK Lee Grant, 13 MF Jesse Lingard, 15 MF Andreas Pereira, 16 DF Marcos Rojo, 17 MF Fred, 18 DF Ashley Young, 20 DF Diogo Dalot, 21 MF Daniel James, 22 GK Sergio Romero, 23 DF Luke Shaw, 24 DF Timothy Fosu-Mensah, 29 DF Aaron Wan-Bissaka, 31 MF Nemanja Matic, 36 DF Matteo Darmian, 38 DF Alex Tuanzebe, 39 MF Scott Tominay, 40 GK Joel Pereira
Manchester United vs Crystal Palace 8/24/19
Betting Odds not yet available
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace F.C. was founded in 1905 and were elected to the Football League in 1920. This is a side that has spent most of its history playing in the top two levels of English Football. They have dropped below the second tier only once since 1964 and they are one of the founders of the Premier League. After suffering financial troubles during the late 1990s, they have recovered and have resided in the EPL since the 2013 season. They finished 12 in the final Premier League table last season after a slow start which saw them lose eight out of their first 13 matches. However, this team won nine games from New Year’s day to keep their Premier League spot. The soccer betting odds for this match isn’t out yet but Crystal Palace should be soccer betting underdogs against Manchester United.
Here is the Crystal Palace F.C. roster as of August 2, 2019:
2 DF Joel Ward, 3 DF Patrick van Aanholt, 4 MF Luka Milivojevic (captain), 5 DF James Tomkins, 6 DF Scott Dann, 7 MF Max Meyer, 8 MF Cheikhou Kouyate, 10 FW Andros Townsend, 11 FW Wilfried Zaha, 12 DF Mamadou Sakho, 13 GK Wayne Hennessey, 14 FW Jordan Ayew, 15 DF Jeffrey Schlupp, 17 FW Christian Benteke, 18 MF James McArthur, 19 GK Stephen Henderson, 21 FW Connor Wickham, 31 GK Vicente Guaita, 33 DF Ryan Inniss, 34 DF Martin Kelly, 35 DF Sam Woods, 44 Jairo Riedewald
Who Wins?
Harry Maguire has finally joined Manchester United as the most expensive defender in the world. In doing so, Solskjaer addressed a long-standing weakness of his club- their defense. But the backfield upgrades didn’t come cheap. Manchester United’s defensive makeover has cost them £125m.
Last season ended in a stunning collapse that yielded no wins in their final five matches. United was fourth, at par with Tottenham in third with seven matches to go. Yet the plummeted to 6th at the end of the season. But after what we can call a successful preseason, Manchester United may be looking at an upward trajectory next term.
Crystal Palace finished 12th in the final table last season, losing eight out of their opening 13 matches. But after posting nine wins from New Year’s day onwards, they kept their place in the Premier League. While that may not be too impressive, they’ve finished between number 10-15 in six years which shows that they are a stable team.
Their biggest signing of Andrew Ayew may be underwhelming. They earned £50m from the sale of Aaron Wan-Bissaka but have not reinvested the sum. With Wilfried Zaha possibly exiting, Andros Townsend looks to be their main guy as he’s improved steadily in the last couple of terms under Roy Hodgson.
I think Manchester United simply has a better line-up and play better as a group. United will be looking to bounce back after sputtering to the finish the last time out. A strong start to the new season will be an avenue to impose their will. I’m picking Manchester United to beat Crystal Palace on 8.24.19. Prediction: Manchester United
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