Manchester City vs Crystal Palace: Predicted lineup, injury news, head-to-head, telecast

Published at :December 14, 2023 at 5:00 PM

Modified at :December 27, 2023 at 5:35 PM

Pep Guardiola’s side would look to close the gap between them and league leaders Liverpool

Manchester City’s quest for a record breaking fourth consecutive Premier League title has taken a hit in recent weeks. Three consecutive draws against Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham, has put them in the 4th position in the points table. The loss to Unai Emery’s side was a record breaking game for the Citizens for all the wrong reasons, as City faced the most shots (22) in a Premier League game under Pep Guardiola. They managed a narrow victory against the newly promoted Luton Town side.

Crystal Palace, meanwhile, are starting to look down and not up after picking up just one win in their eight Premier League games since the start of October. Palace have had mixed results on the road this season however, picking up three wins, two draws and three defeats, with a 1-0 win over Manchester United meaning they will be looking to do the Manchester double.

Kick-Off:

Saturday, 16 December 2023 at 3:00 PM GMT (8:30 PM IST)

Location: Etihad Stadium

Form

Manchester City (Premier League): D-D-D-L-W

Crystal Palace (Premier League): L-L-D-L-L

Players to watch:

Julian Alvarez (Manchester City)

Due to Haaland’s absence Alvarez will play as a centre-forward, he works hard to create space for teammates in central areas. With his extremely intelligent movement, he is constantly on the lookout for space to offer a vertical passing option to his midfield teammates. He will be very vital in this match in terms of scoring goals and holding up play in the attacking third.

Odsonne Edouard (Crystal Palace)

Despite the recent struggles in the Premier League, the only positive player for Crystal Palace has been Edouard. He has scored as many goals as he was able to score in the last two seasons for Crystal Palace with half of the season still remaining. In the 15 goals that the Eagles have managed to score this season, Edouard has scored 6 of them in 15 matches that he has played this season.

Match facts:

Man City are unbeaten in their 26 home games across all competitions in 2023 (W24, D2).
Crystal Palace haven’t kept a clean sheet in 5 Premier League matches.
Manchester City have won the previous 2 matches against Crystal Palace.
The Eagles have failed to win a Premier League match in last five matches this season.

Injury & Team News

Pep Guardiola will miss some of his key players due to injury, Ederson who missed Champions League clash due to illness is likely to make a comeback in the squad. Haaland and Doku are the major missings for Manchester City ahead of this clash, with both the players likely to join the squad next week.

Crystal Palace will be without Ayew – who is suspended for this game after receiving a red card in a 2-1 defeat against Liverpool. Their custodian Henderson will also miss the match due to injury alongside Eze who is also sidelined, both these players are expected to join later this month or early next year.

Head to Head

Total Matches – 22

Manchester City wins – 16

Crystal Palace wins – 3

Draws – 3

Predicted Lineup:

Manchester City predicted lineup

Ederson; Walker, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Rodri; Grealish, Foden, Silva; Alvarez

Crystal Palace predicted lineup

Johnstone; Ward, Andersen, Guehi, Clyne; Lerma, Richards, Hughes; Olise, Edouard, Schlupp

Match prediction for Manchester City vs Crystal Palace:

Given the relentless schedule of the festive season, the stakes could be high for both sides going into this fixture. While Palace would be rock solid in their defensive shape, hoping to hit City with counter attacking football, the hosts know they must convert their chances early to settle into the game and control proceedings. Even so, the Manchester outfit has too much quality in their frontline to overpower Palace despite what should be a keenly-contested match.

Prediction: Manchester City 2-1 Crystal Palace

Telecast

India – Star Sports, Disney+ Hotstar

UK – Sky Sports, TNT Sports, Amazon Prime Video

US – NBC, USA Network, Peacock

Nigeria – DSTV, Gotv, Star Times, Kwese TV

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