United Can Equal Clean-sheet Record

Jose Mourinho's team will equal Manchester United's best-ever start to a Premier League campaign in terms of clean sheets, if Crystal Palace are prevented from scoring on Saturday.

The Reds have kept out the opposition in five of the opening six league fixtures thus far, with the only blemish on the defence’s otherwise perfect record being the two goals conceded against Stoke City in the 2-2 draw at the beginning of September.

So, if Roy Hodgson’s side are denied a goal at Old Trafford, the Reds will have kept six clean sheets from the first seven Premier League matches, a feat the club has achieved only once before, in 1997/98.

In that campaign, United only conceded one goal in seven games, to West Ham's John Hartson. By the end of the season, the team had kept 20 clean sheets overall, even if it was not enough to stop Arsenal winning the title by a single point.

However, the Reds still have some way to go before matching the best opening run of clean sheets at Old Trafford as, in the 1994/95 season, it was not until the 10th home league game that an opponent breached the defence with Nottingham Forest scoring twice.

Palace, meanwhile, are trying to avoid extending their own unwanted record of failing to score in each of their opening six matches but they were unlucky not to find the net in their last outing at Manchester City.