Crystal Palace vs Man City Prediction & Tips
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Crystal Palace welcome Manchester City to Selhurst Park on Saturday for a 3pm kick-off in the Premier League with both sides looking to follow up victories in midweek.
Crystal Palace vs Man City Predictions
- Full Time Result: Man City Win
- Correct Score: 1-2
- Both Teams To Score: Yes
- Over 2.5 Goals: Yes
- First Goalscorer: Kevin De Bruyne
An unfathomable seven-match winless run was snapped in style by Manchester City on Wednesday as they beat high-flying Nottingham Forest 3-0 at the Etihad.
City boss Pep Guardiola will have been relieved to halt the worst run of his 16-year career as a manager but it was still far from a vintage performance from the Premier League champions.
City rode their luck at times, with a pivotal save from Stefan Ortega and a rare miss from Chris Wood stopping Forest restoring parity at 1-0, and Crystal Palace will be eyeing an upset based on that performance, their recent form and past results against the Citizens.
The Eagles have tasted defeat in just one of their last seven matches and have lost three of their last six meetings with City – a record that is stronger than the majority of their Premier League contemporaries.
Their chances are also boosted by two further absences at the back for the champions, who saw Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji forced off against Forest. The key pair will join Rodri, Mateo Kovacic and John Stones on the Selhurst sidelines.
Expect Palace to give a good account of themselves on Saturday, with goals very much on the agenda.
Crystal Palace vs Man City Tips
Tip 1
Given the unprecedented poor run his side had endured, it was unsurprising to see Guardiola roll the dice against Forest on Wednesday as he named an extremely attacking line-up which included a midfield trio of Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish.
His gamble paid off in an attacking sense and City will fancy their chances of netting at Selhurst given they scored four times in this fixture last term, but they still looked vulnerable against Forest and the injuries to Ake and Akanji certainly won’t aid their cause.
Spirits will be high in the Palace camp following Tuesday’s crucial 1-0 win over Ipswich, and with Eberechi Eze back and Jean-Philippe Mateta in form again, the Eagles have the talent to hurt the champions.
Both teams to score has been a winning bet in five of City’s last six away games as well as in three of their past four meetings with Palace, making the same selection an appealing one again.
Tip 2
With Ake, Stones and Akanji out, it seems likely Josko Gvardiol will be shifted inside to play alongside Ruben Dias at centre-back with Rico Lewis replacing the Croatian on the left of City’s defence.
For all Lewis’s strengths in possession, he is only young and can still be exposed when left to defend one-on-one situations.
Palace may look to exploit that area of the pitch by either asking Daniel Munoz to take the City youngster on or by building play up down the left and getting the Colombian to arrive late at the back post, just as he did for the Eagles’ equaliser against Newcastle last Saturday.
Munoz also has two assists in his last eight games, so is clearly a capable creator, and it could pay to side with him to be directly involved in a goal against the champions.
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