Manchester City Blog
·16 January 2021
Manchester City Blog
·16 January 2021
Manchester City vs Crystal Palace| Premier League| Etihad Stadium| KO 19:15| Sky Sports
Manchester City host Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace looking to win their fifth consecutive league game.
However, the Blues have struggled in this fixture in recent years, drawing and losing for the past two seasons.
City beat Brighton Hove Albion 1-0 thanks to a Phil Foden goal, on Wednesday.
The win against Brighton extended their unbeaten run to 14 games and City have conceded just three goals during that run.
With Manchester United travelling to Anfield ahead of the game, another win could put Manchester City in the driving seat with regards to the title race.
Team News
Manchester City are still without striker, Sergio Aguero, who is still in self-isolation.
Other absentees are centre-backs, Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake, who are both injured.
Eric Garcia, who has been heavily linked with a move away, is once again available but a lack of match fitness means a start would be unlikely.
Guardiola is expected to make changes from the team that beat Brighton, with Jesus, Sterling and Walker all pushing for a return to the team.
Walker’s expected return could see Joao Cancelo switch to left-back.
Phil Foden, once again, shone against Brighton and he is likely to be involved from the start again.
The Opposition
Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace are unbeaten in their last three league games, winning once and drawing twice.
Most recently, Palace picked up a valuable point at the Emirates, but they have failed to score in four of their past six away league matches.
However, Hodgson’s Palace have been somewhat of a bogey team for Manchester City under Guardiola and all of Hodgson’s wins against City have come at the Etihad.
Crystal Palace are assessing their squad after their goalless draw at arsenal, with fit-again James Tomkins a key figure in that game.
Wickham, Schlupp, Sakho, Kelly, Hennessey and Ferguson all remain unavailable for Palace.
They drew this fixture 2-2 last season.
Key Statistics
Prediction:
Roy Hodgson teams are always incredibly difficult to break down and if they stop an early City goal, they may fancy their chances. But Manchester City have improved massively defensively and are re-finding their clinical edge. It will be a tough game for City but in the end they’ll have too much quality. Manchester City 3-1 Crystal Palace