Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Both teams have F.A. Cup exploits at the Weekend but Manchester United can’t afford to take this one easy especially with Manchester City dropping points last night at St James Park and they are now presented with the opportunity in which to close the gap to their cross city rivals to just 2 points.
Not only that but a win for United would mean they are just a point behind Arsenal who play West Brom 24 hours. So a win at Old Trafford could really heap the pressure on the two clubs directly above them and create an interesting race for those last two remaining Champions League places.
Last time out United beat basement side Aston Villa 1-0 and finally confirmed their relegation to The Championship. It wasn’t a classic performance by United in fairness they rarely are these days but once again it was Marcus Rashford on hand to score the winner.
It may well be too late for a EURO 2016 call up for Rashford but on this form he could very well end the season with an F.A. Cup Winners medal and cap what has been a fantastic rise to stardom for the 18 year old
Their opponents Crystal Palace have all but assured safety now thanks to picking up 4 points in their last two matches. That means that Alan Pardew can now focus solely on F.A. Cup glory and repeating his own personal feat of reaching the final as a player and a manager in 1990 with Palace and 2006 with West Ham.
Pardew will probably use the opportunity to rest key players for this clash as he will rightly believe that they Semi Final against Watford is more winnable. That said I don’t think it’s a luxury that can be afforded to Louis Van Gaal, with United still in the hunt for a Top 4 they know that anything less than 3 points will costly.
With Palace having both eyes on the Cup and United having one, I will give the advantage to United as they have more to play for. I wouldn’t expect a classic mind you. A home win for me.
Papa Johns – If your team scores twice then it’s half price
