Manchester City will be looking to get back to winning ways when they take on Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, with the season entering its final stages.
Pep Guardiola’s men go into the game on the back of successive draws to Manchester United and Middlesbrough and will be looking to get an important win in the race for a top four position.
City are currently only a point clear of nearest rivals Manchester United, who are in fifth. The next four league games could be make or break in the race for the final two top four places.
Crystal Palace are fighting against relegation from the Premier League and only sit six points above the drop zone, so a win or draw here could help them guarantee their Premier League status for next season. In their last game, they were beaten by Burnley 2-0 at home, which gave them a setback in their survival push.
Sam Allardyce has brought more robustness to Crystal Palace, making them stronger defensively and dangerous on the counter-attack, with the likes of Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke ready to pounce on any kind of chance they can get. They can beat anyone on their day, which was shown when they beat third-placed Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield recently.
In the reverse fixture, City managed to grab a 2-1 win at Selhurst Park in the league, with two goals from Yaya Toure cancelling out Connor Wickham’s goal for Palace. Both sides also played in the FA Cup, with City comfortably beating their opponents 3-0, with Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Yaya Toure sending the Citizens through to the next round.
Here’s how we expect Pep Guardiola to set out his team for the game:
