Patrice Evra reveals his Man United v Crystal Palace prediction

Patrice Evra is tipping Manchester United to bounce back to winning ways in the Premier League by claiming a 2-0 home victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The Red Devils lost 3-2 to Arsenal in their most recent top-flight clash after having been held to a 1-1 draw by Crystal Palace before that.

However, Erik ten Hag’s side have been in good form in the cup competitions in recent days. They booked their spot in the League Cup final with a 5-0 aggregate victory over Nottingham Forest and sealed their spot in the FA Cup fifth round with a 3-1 win over Reading.

They will now look to beat a Crystal Palace side who are without a win in their last four outings in the Premier League.

Manchester United start the weekend in fourth place in the Premier League table and level on points with third-placed Newcastle United – and former Red Devils star Evra is backing his old side to claim the three points against the Eagles.

Writing in his column for Betfair, Evra said: “This is a massive opportunity for United, they’ve won their last 12 at home, something that hasn’t happened since [Sir Alex] Ferguson’s time, so, let’s make it 13 and hurt Crystal Palace because they hurt us scoring that goal in the last second, they killed our dream to win the title.

“I expect Marcus Rashford to start and for sure I expect Bruno Fernandes to fill the empty space that Erickson will leave. Casemiro will be Casemiro again.

“My prediction is a United win, I don’t see United stopping right now. We’re going to add more fresh blood with the new players and I hope the new signing (Marcel Sabitzer) gets 15 minutes of game time or maybe a start.”

Meanwhile, former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson is also expecting to see Ten Hag’s side claim the three points on Saturday to boost their top-four bid.

The Red Devils will be without midfielder Christian Eriksen for the foreseeable future due to an ankle injury – and although Merson feels that the Dane will be a big miss for the Red Devils, he’s backing Manchester United to snatch a 2-1 win over Palace.

“Crystal Palace are a hard team to break down, and they’re going to set up to play counter-attacking football,” Merson wrote in his column for Sportskeeda. “Manchester United have had problems with breaking teams down in the past, and they changed when Christian Eriksen came in.

“When Eriksen starts for Man United, they control games. Eriksen is a player that you need to beat a team like Palace, and his absence will make a massive difference. They have brought Marcel Sabitzer in on loan from Bayern Munich, but is he what they really wanted? He wasn’t on the radar in the first place, and it looks like a panic buy.

“I couldn’t think of a better game to judge how much Eriksen could be missed. If you’re bringing reinforcements in from Bayern, you’re surely thinking of playing him. Man United aren’t playing one of the big boys, and they should be able to dominate this game.

“I think Manchester United are going to win this game, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they dropped points against Palace.”