Paul Merson predicts Manchester United result at Crystal Palace

Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has said that Manchester United could suffer their first league defeat of the year when they face Crystal Palace on the road on Wednesday night.

The Red Devils witnessed the likes of Juan Mata, Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingard sidelined with hamstring injuries during the goalless draw against Liverpool and they have been further hampered with Marcus Rashford also struggling with a swollen ankle.

With this in mind, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has recently cited that a number of fringe and young players could feature at Selhurst Park and this has urged Merson to favour a win for Roy Hodgson's side.

"United have got a lot of injures, Palace had a great result at Leicester... I'm going for Palace in this one! All of a sudden, I think United will be four points behind the top four," he said.

Aside from the quartet, the Mancunian giants are also without other key players including Nemanja Matic and Anthony Martial with the former sidelined for a few weeks with a muscular concern.