Life comes at you quickly, but football needs to come quicker, especially when you lose, and that’s the feeling Ruben Amorim must be having at Man Utd right now.
All the progress felt with the five-game unbeaten run at Man Utd was undone by the team falling to a morale-crashing 0-1 loss to Everton.
Much has been said about United’s lack of urgency despite having a spare man, but their next fixture, where they need to put things right, isn’t as forgiving.
A trip to Selhurst Park awaits to face bogey team Crystal Palace, but at least the circumstances mean the team is finally set up to break the curse.
Bruno Fernandes applauds Manchester United fans.
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Man Utd are getting ideal conditions vs Crystal Palace
Alongside the trinity of “Bs” in Bournemouth, Brentford, and Brighton, Crystal Palace are arguably the next in line when we speak about Man Utd’s bogey teams.
Will Man Utd finally break the Selhurst Park curse? Tell us about your memories of matches there…
Sept 2024: Palace 0-0 Man Utd
May 2024: Palace 4-0 Man Utd
Jan 2023: Palace 1-1 Man Utd
May 2022: Palace 1-0 Man Utd
Mar 2021: Palace 0-0 Man Utd
Jul 2020: Palace 0-2 Man Utd
Crystal Palace FC v Manchester United FC - Premier League
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That curse becomes even stronger when the game is at Selhurst Park, where United’s last win came all the way back in 2020 in the lockdown era.
The last five results on the ground make for grim reading, so the Man Utd manager needs any glimmer of hope he can pass on to his players.
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Fortunately, there is just the perfect factor, because United are getting the ideal conditions to break the curse of Selhurst Park.
The lack of European football will finally come to United’s “rescue” because Palace play a daunting away game at Strasbourg in the European Conference League on Thursday night.
The turnaround time from a Thursday night fixture to an early kick-off on Sunday is the most brutal scheduling there is in football.
Add to that an away trip, against strong opposition, and United having the free week, Ruben Amorim and his team really have no excuses to come away from the game with anything less than three points.
Are you confident Man Utd will beat Crystal Palace? Have your say!
Manchester United FC v Crystal Palace FC - Premier League
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Ruben Amorim needs to make the advantage count
Amorim spent the whole of the second half of last season talking about how difficult it is to balance European competitions with the Premier League.
He admitted to throwing away games in the league to go all-in on the Europa League, even saying how this team is not yet ready to face European games along with the league.
Palace, on a fraction of the budget, will be facing United in similarly difficult conditions, so if they manage to turn them over, it will be worse than Everton holding out at Old Trafford with ten men for a 1-0 win.
These are the sort of games that should be “must-win” on United’s calendar, and if Amorim actually says the dreaded word “lack of intensity” after the game, serious questions will be asked.
United will effectively get Palace at 75% of full capacity on Sunday. Amorim needs to make it count.