Crystal Palace vs Man City predicted XIs: Confirmed team news and probable lineups
Manchester City thrashed top four rivals Aston Villa 4-1 on Wednesday as they continue their push for a fourth successive Premier League title, but they face a potential banana skin as they make the trip to Crystal Palace for the early kick off on Saturday.
The hosts still have a bit of work to do to guarantee survival, although their current 30-point haul may well already be enough to avoid the drop.
To call Palace a bogey team for City is perhaps a bit of a stretch, but they have enjoyed more success against the defending champions than most in recent seasons.
Pep Guardiola’s men have won just two of the last five meetings, losing once, and they were held to a 2-2 draw by the Eagles in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.
The game kicks off at 12.30 BST at Selhurst Park on Saturday April 6, and will be broadcast in the UK on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate.
Guardiola up for the title fight
City sit third in the Premier League table and have some work to do to close the gap on Arsenal and Liverpool.
Last season, the Manchester side hit their stride in the second half of the campaign as Arsenal’s challenge faded and the Citizens ended up winning the title with a few games to spare – but the Catalan coach thinks this year the title could end up being decided on the final day of the season.
“If we win all our games it will be down to the last day because they are not five, six, seven points in front,” Guardiola stated.
“It will not be easy. I see Liverpool and Arsenal dropping points but you never know.
“We have to show up and do our job and don’t regret that we should have won that game because they lost the game after.
“We cannot do anything. We cannot control what they do. We have to win our games, that’s all we can do.”
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Crystal Palace vs Manchester City Team News
There is a chance Michael Olise will return for Crystal Palace after a seven-game absence as he has returned to training, although he will probably have to settle for a place among the substitutes if he is deemed fit enough to feature for the first time since February.
The Eagles will be without Chris Richards, Sam Johnstone, Cheick Doucoure, Marc Guehi, Rob Holding, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Matheus Franca, though, meaning changes to the starting XI are likely to be minimal, with Oliver Glasner’s options limited.
The visitors have a couple of injury concerns and defenders Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake will miss out. Goalkeeper Ederson could potentially return but understudy Stefan Ortega has impressed in his absence so Guardiola is unlikely to rush back his first-choice stopper.
Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne were both left on the bench against Villa but could come into the starting XI on Saturday, although both may still see their minutes limited ahead of next week’s huge European date with Real Madrid.
Crystal Palace vs Manchester City Predicted XIs
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1): Henderson; Ward, Andersen, Lerma; Munoz, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell; Ayew, Eze; Mateta
Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Ortega; Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri; Bernardo Silva; Doku, De Bruyne, Foden; Haaland
