Manchester United can take a big step towards securing Champions League qualification at Selhurst Park on Monday evening. Victory will stretch their lead over fifth-placed Chelsea to nine points with nine games remaining and given the lengthy injury list Roy Hodgson has to contend with, the visitors look a solid bet to take the spoils.
The Eagles are minus at least a dozen players at present, a list that includes Scott Dann, Mamadou Sakho, Yohan Cabaye, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Bakary Sako and Wilfried Zaha. With 7,651 minutes between those six, that's a fair chunk of the resource that enabled Palace to climb out of the drop zone before Christmas from a starting point of seven straight defeats.
At their highest point in mid-January, Palace were sitting pretty on a five-point cushion in 12th position, but circumstances have since conspired to drag them back into trouble. Swansea's demolition of West Ham at the weekend has plunged them back in the drop zone, with this the second of four tests against top-six opposition in a five-match sequence.
Hodgson's hand isn't quite as dire as it was nine days ago against Tottenham (0-1) with defenders Martin Kelly and Jeffrey Schlupp now available. But the absence of Zaha remains the biggest problem, as he accounts for so much of their attacking threat. In eight games without him, they've mustered one goal - a meaningless penalty at Everton - and picked up zero points.
So it stands to reason that the hosts will set their stall out once more, just as they did against Mauricio Pochettino's men last weekend. Spurs created ample chances to win by a comfortable margin, but they had to wait 88 minutes before making the breakthrough and this could be a similar exercise in patience for Jose Mourinho.
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United's away form hasn't been too clever of late. They come into this game on the back of successive defeats at Tottenham (0-2) and Newcastle (0-1), which combined with the 0-0 they wanted - and got - in the Champions League against Sevilla, means they haven't found the net on the road for 304 minutes. But that will surely change here.
The come-from-behind win over Chelsea last weekend was the embodiment of their top-four credentials and another defeat for Antonio Conte's men against Manchester City on Sunday means United can effectively get their Champions League qualification all but wrapped up in time for Saturday's grudge encounter with Liverpool.
The Red Devils have ample room for manoeuvre, but Mourinho will consider victory imperative on a broader perspective for a couple of key reasons. First of all, it means United will go into the Liverpool match holding the upper hand - a position from which he rarely ever concedes any ground. Secondly, it undoubtedly helps United's cause in Europe.
The Portuguese has made the point repeatedly this season that the Champions League doesn't begin in earnest until April and he will already be mapping out a stroll to the domestic finish line, whereby United put points at risk in exchange for greater intensity wherever the silverware is up for grabs, much as they did last season.
Mourinho might be desperate to stay perched above Liverpool and Tottenham for the time being, but one suspects he would be less concerned about finishing "first of the losers" if there was even a sniff of glory on the continent. Expect the visitors to take care of business in a determined and disciplined manner.
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Manchester United to win to nil at 11/8
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