Crystal Palace will be looking to avoid getting dragged towards a relegation battle when they face Manchester United at Selhurst Park.
Palace shared the spoils in a goalless draw with Fulham last time out in a game where Roy Hodgson’s side were somewhat lucky to get a point.
That result leaves them 10 points above the Cottagers and that gap will still feel a bit too close for comfort.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for the south Londoners, as their tally of 33 points from 26 games is their highest points haul since the 1991/92 season.
Today’s match is one of three tough upcoming games for the Eagles, as after facing United they travel to Champions League-chasing Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, before welcoming relegation-battling West Bromwich Albion to Selhurst Park on 13th March.
So how do we expect Palace to line up?
Hodgson is still without ex-Man United man Wilfried Zaha with a thigh injury and the match away at Tottenham Hotspur looks like a more realistic return date for the Eagles’ talisman.
But on the flip side, Connor Wickham and Jeffrey Schlupp are both in contention to feature once again, with the latter recovering from a thigh problem.
After coming off the bench to score in Palace’s 2-1 win away at Brighton & Hove Albion, Christian Benteke kept his place in the side for the draw with Fulham, but Hodgson could rotate again and restore Jean-Philippe Mateta to the starting line-up.
The Frenchman endeared himself to the Palace faithful with an audacious back-heeled finish in that aforementioned win at Brighton and he would offer plenty of energy in that lone frontman role.
Other than that, we expect an unchanged Palace side, who could be in line for a tough evening against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s counter-attacking Man United team.
And in other news, Mostafa Mohamed linked with £22 million move to Crystal Palace