Man Utd vs Crystal Palace preview: Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial both declared fit

Manchester United return from the international break hoping to reignite their season against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford.

Jose Mourinho's men sit in eighth position in the Premier League after a sloppy start to the campaign which sees them 12 points off leaders Manchester City and seven off a top-four spot.

Their struggles are identified by the fact United have a negative goal difference after 12 games of a season for the first time since 1977. Defensively, they've kept just one clean sheet - only Fulham (0) have kept fewer - and this comes after a season where they kept eight clean sheets in their opening 12 games.

Old Trafford still remains a tricky place for teams to go, with United winning 10 of their last 13 home matches, yet entertainment has been in short supply, with just eight goals scored by United in their five home matches this season.

Crystal Palace are without a victory in their last seven games since beating Huddersfield 1-0 in September. Scoring goals has been a major problem, with Palace only hitting the back of the net eight times this season.

Roy Hodgson accepts his squad is full of players who could make the step up, but thinks the Eagles can keep them happy.

"I don't think Wilfried Zaha is the only player in our squad that is capable of playing at a higher level for one of the teams above us in the league," Hodgson said.

"But we are lucky enough to have them under contract and we try our best to make certain they are happy here and satisfied with everything Crystal Palace can provide for them.

"I think we can provide a lot, I don't underrate ourselves to the extent that I am being encouraged to constantly talk about the top four or five clubs."

Team news

Manchester United have a fully fit squad for the first time this season after Mourinho confirmed Anthony Martial, Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba are fit to play Crystal Palace.

Luke Shaw will be unavailable through suspension due to picking up five bookings.

Mamadou Sakho, Wilfried Zaha and James Tomkins are all available for Saturday's clash.

Former United man Zaha was a doubt for the game at Old Trafford, having suffered a hamstring injury before the international break.

Opta stats

Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 20 league games against Crystal Palace (W17 D3) since a 0-3 loss in May 1991.
Crystal Palace have lost their last 11 league visits to Old Trafford, failing to score on 10 occasions since a 2-1 win in December 1989 thanks to a Mark Bright brace.
Manchester United have played 18 Premier League games against Crystal Palace without ever losing (W15 D3) - the highest amount of games one team has faced another in the competition without ever suffering defeat.
Man Utd have conceded at least once in their last eight Premier League games - only once have they had a longer run without a clean sheet in the competition (nine games between August and October 1999).
Crystal Palace are winless in seven Premier League games (D2 L5), and have lost each of their last three away from home.
Manchester United have trailed for 395 minutes in the Premier League this season - only the three clubs in the relegation zone coming into this weekend have been behind for longer (Fulham 553, Cardiff 474 and Huddersfield 454).

Merson's prediction

A very comfortable win for United. There are worse Premier League teams than Palace, but it is quite worrying for them. They are solid at the back, but cannot score or get things going.

So this is the perfect game for United - Wilfried Zaha has gone off the boil a little bit, he is trying to do everything himself like the school captain and is not running with the ball so much, instead trying to hold the ball up and win fouls. So I think he needs to get back to what we were all talking about at the start of the season - about how great he is.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (11/2 with Sky Bet)

Manchester United 0

Crystal Palace 0