A fight to avoid the Europa Conference League ahead of next term and an audition before prospective manager Erik ten Hag, who will be in attendance at Selhurst Park. The aforementioned is what Manchester United’s final day of the 2021/22 campaign looks like.
It has already been confirmed that United will end the season with their lowest ever Premier League points tally. Meanwhile, Manchester City and Liverpool are to be engaged in a final-day title fight, much like United were with the former ten years ago (admittedly a day all from the red side of Manchester will wish to forget).
The fact that United are merely battling to qualify for the Europa League a decade on speaks volumes about the club's state at present. Plus, the fact that the fixture can be regarded an 'audition' towards a prospective manager draws up an air of repetitiveness; with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer having been sacked and Ralf Rangnick failing to steady a sinking ship this term (albeit as interim manager), Ten Hag will become United's sixth manager since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013.
The trip to face Palace on Sunday afternoon is United's first fixture since falling foul to a 4-0 drubbing against Brighton & Hove Albion two weeks ago. Their recent woes mean they have to beat Palace to secure Europa League football, with West Ham United prised to secure sixth-spot if they win and United fail to do so.
Looking at United’s opposition, Palace head into the season finale only three points behind Brighton in 13th-place amidst a cluster of six sides (from Leicester City in ninth to Aston Villa in 14th) split by a mere four points.
Patrick Vieira has earned plenty of plaudits this season for his work, warranting a nomination for Premier League Manager of the Season having stylistically revamped a degraded Palace outfit. The standout achievement of the campaign has been reaching an FA Cup semi-final in which they fell short to runners-up Chelsea.
Palace's loss to Everton on Thursday night - which saw the Toffees secure survival - marked the end of a four-game unbeaten run. But a five-match unbeaten streak on home turf in the league remains, with a clean sheet kept in the last four of those. If Palace don't lose by three goals or more, they will finish on a positive goal difference for the first time since 1991 in top-flight competition.
United do have an exemplary record at Selhurst Park, with Palace failing to win in 12 Premier League encounters. The reverse fixture was Rangnick's first in charge of United, with Fred supplying the solitary goal in a 1-0 victory back in December.
According to multiple reports though, United will be without runaway top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo due to a hip flexor injury that has marred him in recent months. With their main goal threat removed and a run of five consecutive away defeats currently being endured, United run a high risk of finishing on a negative goal difference for the first time since the 1989/90 season - they have to avoid losing by two goals or more to prevent this.
On Friday, Rangnick confirmed that "there will be quite a few players missing" whilst saying, "Please understand that I don't want to name all those names right now."
Despite having returned to training over the last fortnight, Luke Shaw likely will not feature as his partner gave birth to their second child on Friday. According to Rangnick during his press conference, "He was supposed to be back for training tomorrow (Saturday) but apparently he isn’t."
Phil Jones and Jadon Sancho had to withdraw from Friday's training session, possibly curtailing their seasons, and in the case of the former bringing his United career to a close. Paul Pogba is also expected to be missing from what would, in all likelihood, have been his final outing in a United shirt.
Alejandro Garnacho has been ill so there is doubt as to his physical state, but Alvaro Fernandez, Charlie Savage and Shola Shoretire have all been spotted travelling to London with the squad.
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