The United Review team have been busy working on two separate matchday programmes for Crystal Palace games this week, so consider them Eagles experts!
Here are a handful of facts you can read in this evening's Carabao Cup third-round edition, before the first of our back-to-back matches against the club from the capital...
YOUNG TALENT
Look out for homegrown winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi potentially appearing tonight. The highly rated 20-year-old starred at Charlton Athletic last season, scoring 15 goals and making eight assists on loan at Palace’s south-east London rivals, and he started in their second-round win over Plymouth Argyle.
ABSENT OLISE
Palace’s Players’ Player of the Year for 2022/23, Michael Olise, had targeted this match as a potential comeback from his current injury, but a recurrence of that hamstring problem in training looks likely to keep him out.
GAMECHANGERS
The Eagles were facing an early exit to Plymouth in the last round, going 2-0 down to the Championship side, but Roy Hodgson’s changes swung the match. He brought on first-team regulars Jordan Ayew, Eberechi Eze and Jeffrey Schlupp, and the eventual 4-2 win featured four assists from the game-changing substitutes.
BORN IN THE USA
Alabama-born central defender Chris Richards – who signed from Bayern Munich last summer – made his Premier League debut for Palace against United back in January. The 23-year-old USA international started his first game of the season in the second round against Plymouth.
AGELESS ROY
Roy Hodgson – the Premier League’s oldest-ever manager – has racked up over 1,200 games since beginning his managerial career in 1976.
For more info on Palace, pick up a copy of tonight’s United Review outside the ground, or you can order the programme (and the one for Saturday’s Premier League meeting) here to have a copy delivered to your door.