We look ahead to Sunday’s Premier League clash at Old Trafford with our Man Utd vs Crystal Palace prediction and preview. Can United continue their imperious form against a Palace side also on the rise?
Man Utd vs Crystal Palace: The Key Stats
The Opta supercomputer rates Manchester United as overwhelming favourites to win this match against Crystal Palace, with the hosts coming out victorious in 55.9% of the pre-match simulations. Michael Carrick has won all four of his home league games in charge of Man Utd across two spells – only Frank O’Farrell has previously won his first five home games at the helm of the club, doing so with six in a row back in 1971. Crystal Palace have won four of their last six away league games against Manchester United. Prior to this, they won just two of their 22 visits to Old Trafford, losing 17.In-form Manchester United are looking to make it 11 Premier League games unbeaten as they face Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, with the home straight of the 2025-26 season coming into view.
United are the only team unbeaten in the Premier League since Boxing Day, winning a league-high 22 points in this period. Sixteen of those points have been won since Michael Carrick replaced Ruben Amorim in the dugout.
Carrick has won five of six league games during his second spell in charge. And, as was the case against Fulham at Old Trafford and West Ham at London Stadium, the United head coach had Benjamin Sesko to thank against Everton last time out.
United climbed back into the Premier League’s top four with a 1–0 win at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday, with Sesko coming off the bench to score a 71st-minute winner and extend their unbeaten streak to 10 league games.
That’s United’s longest Premier League unbeaten run since a streak of 14 between January and May 2021 under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, with Carrick’s side also picking up their first away clean sheet since March 2025.
Sesko has now netted five times in six league games for United since Amorim’s departure, despite only playing just shy of 233 minutes (including stoppage time), averaging one goal every 46 mins, 34 secs. Heading into the visit of Palace, no player has more non-penalty Premier League goals in 2026 than the Slovenian’s five.
United are yet to drop a point under Carrick at Old Trafford and have won 27 in total across their last 12 Premier League home games – that’s 16 more than they managed across the previous 13 matches at their own ground.
However, United aren’t the only Premier League side whose results have improved in recent weeks. Crystal Palace have won two of their last three and advanced to the last 16 of the UEFA Conference League.
Palace left it late to claim a 1–0 win in their most recent Premier League outing, with Evann Guessand coming off the bench to net the only goal of the game in the 90th minute against bottom side Wolves.
That was Guessand’s very first goal in the Premier League in his 16th appearance, having failed to net in 13 games for Aston Villa before eventually breaking his duck in the third outing of his loan spell at Selhurst Park.
As a result, Palace earned twice as many points (six) in their last two league games as they managed across the previous nine matches, a run that featured six losses and saw Oliver Glasner’s side drop from fourth to 15th.
Back up to 13th in the table despite continued doubts and tribulations over Glasner’s short-term future, Palace have also progressed in Europe, beating Zjrjnski Mostar 3–1 over two legs to reach the UEFA Conference League last 16.
Thursday’s 2-0 win over the Bosnians made it three wins from four in all competitions, and Palace can take further encouragement from the fact they’ve won on their last two visits to Old Trafford.
Indeed, Palace are looking to become just the second London side to win three consecutive away league games against United after Chelsea twice managed the feat between 1967-68 and 1969-70.
Guessand is pushing for a start after two crucial goals in Palace’s last two games, but Cheick Doucouré and Eddie Nketiah remain out long term. Sunday’s meeting at Old Trafford will also come too soon for Jefferson Lerma and Jean-Philippe Mateta.
For United, Sesko couldn’t have done much more to earn himself a spot up front after goals off the bench in three of their last four games, but with Carrick making minimal changes across this winning run, it remains to be seen if he’ll make the starting XI.
Carrick will also give Lisandro Martínez a chance to prove his fitness, though Mason Mount is unlikely to be risked.
Man Utd v Crystal Palace Head-to-Head
This season’s reverse fixture in the Premier League saw Manchester United pick up three points at Selhurst Park, coming back from a goal down to win 2-1 in the second half.
Mateta’s first-half penalty put Palace in front at the break, but Joshua Zirkzee’s equaliser nine minutes after the restart was followed up by Mount’s winner nine minutes later, sealing just a second away win of the season for United.
Following that narrow victory in November, United are looking to complete their first league double over Palace since the 2017-18 season.
Man Utd vs Crystal Palace Prediction
Manchester United’s points haul over the last 10 games is the best in the Premier League, and as a result they are the Opta supercomputer’s favourites to win this match.
Across 10,000 pre-match simulations, the Red Devils won 55.9% of the outcomes, with a Crystal Palace victory seen as the third-likeliest result at Old Trafford.
The visitors may have ended their own dismal run of form in recent weeks, but Palace are only given a 21.3% chance of victory, with a draw occurring in 22.8%.
Man Utd vs Crystal Palace Predicted Lineups
Manchester United: Senne Lammens, Diogo Dalot, Leny Yoro, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Kobbie Mainoo, Casemiro, Amad Diallo, Bruno Fernandes, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo.
Head coach: Michael Carrick
Crystal Palace: Dean Henderson, Chadi Riad, Chris Richards, Jaydee Canvot, Daniel Muñoz, Daichi Kamada, Adam Wharton, Tyrick Mitchell, Ismaïla Sarr, Yeremy Pino, Jørgen Strand Larsen.
Head coach: Oliver Glasner
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 15,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off at Old Trafford on Sunday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides…
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