United Review's guide to Crystal Palace
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.