Pep Guardiola’s defending champions will be aiming to continue their recovery as they travel to face Oliver Glasner’s Eagles in South London.
By Ian King
Expect goals
Whether recent or ancient, history tells us that Crystal Palace vs Manchester City is a match that usually produces goals. The last four alone produced 17. It may surprise some to learn that these two clubs didn’t meet in the league until 1965. Their second of their only two meetings prior to this in the FA Cup came in January 1926 at Maine Road, when City beat Palace 11-4 as part of a run to the final which saw them score 31 goals in six games (including Manchester United 3-0 in the semi-final).
Recovery mode
Both teams will be in a considerably brighter frame of mind than they would have been had this match been played seven days earlier. The midweek matches brought welcome wins for both, Palace narrowly away to Ipswich and City convincingly at home against Nottingham Forest. The question facing both sets of players is that of whether these performances represent corners being turned or false dawns.
Key players
Kevin De Bruyne’s assured performance against Forest went a long way towards answering those who had questioned whether the Manchester City captain was part of a team that is ‘too old’. Another returnee from injury, Jérémy Doku, also scored against Forest after having been out since the match against Sporting in the Champions League last month.
Palace could do with a big performance from Jean-Philippe Mateta. They’re the lowest goalscorers in the Premier League at the moment with just twelve from their fourteen games so far, and he’s scored a third of them. And despite their clean sheet on Wednesday night, Palace will have seen that City remain potentially defensively vulnerable.
Team News
Players are starting to return for Manchester City, but that doesn’t mean that others aren’t still falling by the wayside. Nathan Aké sustained a hamstring injury in the closing stages of the midweek win over Forest and will join Rodri, Oscar Bobb, Mateo Kovačić and John Stones on the treatment table. In addition to this, Manuel Akanji was withdrawn at half-time, while Phil Foden has had bronchitis and it’s doubtful that he will be available.
Chadi Riad, Adam Wharton and Matheus França are all missing for Crystal Palace, but beyond that the news for them isn’t actually too bad. Cheick Doucouré was withdrawn at half-time during their win at Ipswich, but this has now been confirmed as precautionary on account of a booking that he’d picked up. Elsewhere, Dalchi Kamada returns following a three match suspension.
Prediction
Manchester City’s midweek win was in sharp progress to their prior recent performances, but was that run the blip or was it Wednesday night’s result? Kevin De Bruyne rumbling back to form is an ominous sign for the entire rest of the Premier League. More will likely follow. A win is a win for Crystal Palace at the moment, but they weren’t inspiring at Ipswich and City may find this a comfortable way to regain some more of their recently jettisoned poise. Therefore, let’s go for Crystal Palace 1-3 Manchester City.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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