Premier league midweek preview: Manchester rivals must win to keep pressure on league leaders

The Premier League returns to action in midweek, with two rescheduled fixtures from match round seven to be played across Wednesday and Thursday.

We preview both games below.

Crystal Palace v Manchester United – Wednesday 20:00

Crystal Palace’s valiant yet unsuccessful effort against Chelsea on Sunday was their fourth loss ‘to nil’ in their last five league fixtures – a run of results that has seen the Eagles slip to 12th in the division. Patrick Viera must demand an upturn in form from his stuttering side if they are to avoid being dragged into a relegation dogfight – with fixtures against Manchester United (twice), Newcastle and Brighton in their next four games hardly providing any respite for the south Londoners.

Manchester United’s stunning comeback against rivals City on Saturday ignited murmurs of a title push in the south-west of the city, with Erik ten Hag’s men now on a five-game winning streak in the league – their longest run since April 2021. The Red Devils find themselves just one point behind Pep Guardiola’s men and will leapfrog them – for 24 hours at least – with a victory on Wednesday. They are 4/5 favourites to achieve that, with a Palace victory deemed unlikely at 7/2.

Marcus Rashford has been the game’s last goalscorer in his last five successive fixtures in all competitions, and is 10/3 to accomplish that feat again in midweek. Meanwhile, new loan signing Wout Weghorst could make his United debut on Wednesday, with the towering striker 7/1 to score a header against a Palace side who have conceded seven goals in their last two games at Selhurst Park.

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Manchester City v Tottenham – Thursday 20:00

Manchester City lost major ground on leaders Arsenal with their derby day defeat to United on Saturday – a loss which saw them slip to second-favourites in the outright betting at 5/4. Pep Guardiola’s men have won just two of their last five league games – incredibly their worst league run since December 2020 – with an ever-growing gap between them and Arsenal making mounting a comeback increasingly difficult.

Their opponents on Thursday sadly couldn’t do them any favours on Sunday, with Tottenham’s gutless 2-0 loss to rivals Arsenal making it four losses in five games at home. Antonio Conte’s men still find themselves in a unique position of potentially having a bearing on the title outcome, with two daunting games against City in their next three league fixtures. They start as big 15/2 outsiders for this one, with the Cityzens priced at 7/20 to get their title aspirations back on track.

Erling Haaland hasn’t scored in three successive games – his longest ‘goal drought’ since signing for the club – but still leads the anytime goalscoring market at 2/5. City don’t find themselves in the strongest of form, but will likely have too much for this struggling Spurs side, and can be backed at 17/20  in the handicap market to win by two or more goals.

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