English Premier League

Crystal Palace v Manchester United Tips: Get with Mazraoui fouls at 5/2

Manchester United and Morocco full-back Noussair Mazraoui
Noussair Mazraoui: Set for tough battle with Eze and Mitchell

Andy Schooler previews Saturday Night Football between Crystal Palace and Manchester United and picks out bets at 5/2 and 11/2.


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Crystal Palace v Manchester United
Saturday 21 September, 17:30
Live on Sky Sports Premier Legaue & Main Event

Lots of people were keen on Palace at the start of the season following their strong end to last term under Oliver Glasner.

I wasn't among them but even though they've taken just two points from the first four games, there have been plenty of decent signs from the Eagles.

Eberechi Eze remains a standout performer, Adam Wharton looks to have a big future ahead of him, while several new signings are yet to truly bed in.


Outcome tough to call

In short, it could still go either way for Palace but, right now, they should not be cowed by the visit of United.

As was the case last year, it's still hard to know what you are going to get from the Red Devils with last weekend's game at Southampton showing that in 90-minute format.

Erik ten Hag's men were second best for half an hour, should have been behind, before opening the scoring and not looking back. They won 3-0.

It was their second victory (also two defeats) but it's hard to get excited about them at a venue where they lost 4-0 in May and if forced to choose, I'd prefer to back Palace at 2.8815/8 than United at 2.526/4.

Neither is really for me and I feel the best bets come in the sub-markets with that man Eze featuring in my first pick.

With Michael Olise now at Bayern Munich, he's an even bigger part of Palace's attacking play.

Eze's shots numbers are highly impressive, although the markets have now caught up.

The England man is certainly a contender in the anytime scorer market. He already has three in all competitions this season (having netted at QPR in midweek) with Glasner saying after that match that Eze was "absolutely top" and "if he had been luckier this season, he would have had five or six goals".

A price of 3.55 has potential but it's another Eze factor that leads me to my bet.


Expect Mazraoui fouls in Eze battle

Eze's runs are drawing fouls - Leicester fouled him four times last weekend, as did QPR in the week.

Playing largely on the left-hand side of the Palace attack, Eze is set to go up against Noussair Mazraoui in this contest and the Moroccan looks a tasty price to commit 2+ fouls.

5/23.50 is on offer about this happening - and it did when Mazraoui came up against another quality performer in Kaoru Mitoma at Brighton last month.

And if Eze's presence in that area of the field isn't enough, there will also be the overlapping runs of Tyrick Mitchell to deal with.

Much of Palace's play has come down that left-hand side so far this season with Mitchell responsible for 21 crosses in his four games - that's more than double the number of his fellow wing-back Daniel Munoz.

Mitchell for an assist is a decent-looking 13/27.50 here. He bagged one against Leicester last week and with Eze around to off-load the ball to and Jean-Philippe Mateta a target in the middle for his crosses, more will surely follow soon.


Kamada card odds look too big

However, there's another similar price which also catches the eye and that's 11/26.50 about Daichi Kamada being shown a card.

The Japanese, signed from Lazio in the summer, has committed 10 fouls in four starts since arriving at Selhurst Park, landing the 2+ fouls bet in three of those.

He's odds-on for at least two more in this contest so 11/26.50 about a card looks big, especially when you consider who the referee is.

Of the officials who took charge of three games of more, Coote was the highest-carding ref in the Premier League last season, averaging 5.38 per game.

He was also top for fouls per game when applying the 4+ games filter with an average of 24.69, that's more than 2.5 above the league average.

The issue is we can't be sure he'll start - Kamada was only a substitute last weekend, although that may have had something to do with his flight back from international duty in the Middle East.

Palace were 2-0 down in the first half but drew level after Kamada came on in the second period so there's every chance he does return to the starting XI - wait for the team news if you can but I'll risk a small stake now.


Bet Builder double has potential

For those putting Bet Builders together, the fouls angle may also be worth pursing via Wharton and Kobbie Mainoo.

The central midfielders clash in the middle of the park in a battle which could well produce fouls.

Wharton's 'fouls drawn' tallies so far have been 2-1-4-3 and he's 8/111.73 to be fouled twice against United.

Mainoo is arguably the man who would be committing those fouls - his fouls figures so far have been 3-2-2-2, yet he's 13/82.63 for 2+ fouls.

Combine the two and the Bet Builder pays almost 3/14.00.


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