Manchester United v Palace

Old Trafford, Saturday 3.00pm

Bakary Sako

Team news

Crystal Palace winger Bakary Sako could play as a makeshift striker with Christian Benteke out of action with a knee ligament problem.

Manager Roy Hodgson confirmed that Benteke will be out for around six weeks following his injury sustained during last week's defeat at Manchester City. Freddie Ladapo is the only other recognised forward available in the squad and may also feature.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek (thigh), James Tomkins (illness) have joined Wilfried Zaha (knee) on the sidelines. On-loan United defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah is ineligible to play against his parent club.

Manchester United have a number of players on the treatment table. Michael Carrick, Paul Pogba, Marcos Rojo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are all missing for the Red Devils.

Antonio Valencia, Maroaune Fellaini and Phil Jones will have fitness tests after not playing in their midweek Champions League tie. Anthony Martial had to be substituted in the game and will also be checked.

Manchester Utd (from): De Gea, Romero, Pereira, Valencia, Darmian, Lindelof, Bailly, Jones, Smalling, Blind, Shaw, Young, Fellaini, Matic, Herrera, McTominay, Mata, Lingard, Mkhitaryan, Lukaku, Rashford, Martial.

Palace (from): Hennessey, Speroni, Riedewald, Dann, Delaney, Fosu-Mensah, Kelly, Ward, Sakho, Lee, McArthur, Cabaye, Milivojevic, Mutch, Puncheon, Sako, Schlupp, Souare, Kaikai, Townsend, Van Aanholt, Ladapo.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"There’s never a good time to play Man United and there is always a good time to play them. We are in the league to play against the big teams. I guess Jose will say it’s not idea to be playing Saturday afternoon after travelling back from Russia but they have a strong team and certainly on paper are stronger than we are.

"But it’s not played on paper and we can only hope we can go out and give them a good game and that any good luck going around goes our way.

"I think you always have something to lose when you stop on the pitch both as a manager and a player, so we can’t go with that attitude at all. You only have nothing to lose in friendlies. Like we did against Bromley [last week] where you are just anxious to see what people can do. Every time it's a competitive match with millions of people around the world watching you, you've got a lot to lose.

"Well [Sako] was bought from Wolves as a goalscorer. He was bought as a left winger. He’s a powerful man and a very powerful striker of the ball, especially with his left foot.

"He doesn’t have a lot of experience playing up front but we were satisfied with his performance against Huddersfield, a) with his work rate, b) with his application. And of course the fact he scored a goal from a corner was the icing on the cake."

Manchester United - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
2nd	6	5	1	0	16

Full league table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
21/05/2017	League	Manchester United	2 - 0	Crystal Palace
14/12/2016	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 2	Manchester United
21/05/2016	FA Cup	Crystal Palace	1 - 2	Manchester United
20/04/2016	League	Manchester United	2 - 0	Crystal Palace
31/10/2015	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 0	Manchester United

All time results

Last meeting

Manchester United 2-0 Palace

Sunday May 21 2017

Manchester United: Pereira, Bailly, Jones, Fosu-Mensah, Mitchell, Pogba (Carrick, 45), Tuanzebe, McTominay, Rooney (Gomes, 88), Lingard (Martial, 47), Harrop

Subs not used: Blind, Willock, O'Hara, Dearnley

Goals: Harrop (15), Pogba (19)

Bookings: McTominay, Carrick

Palace: Hennessey, Ward, Tomkins, Schlupp, Kelly
McArthur (Sako, 61), Milivojevic, Puncheon, van Aanholt (Kaikai, 67), Zaha (Campbell, 79), Benteke

Subs not used: Speroni, Dann
Chung-yong, Wan-Bissaka