Manchester City-Crystal Palace: Securing second place?
With a win at home against Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace, Manchester City will go a minimum of 15 points clear of 5th place.
As manager Pep Guardiola turns his Manchester City team’s focus toward securing Champions League football as quickly as possible before focusing on cup competitions, Crystal Palace will be the latest side to face the second-place Citizens.
The aim of this next run of domestic fixtures will be to put some distance between themselves and Leicester City, who currently sit in third position. Although Aymeric Laporte is back in training, he is not yet expected to make his debut yet, although it should come at some point this month.
The French defender’s return could completely transform how the team has looked this season, and in even more encouraging news, star winger Leroy Sané is nearing a return to training and could feature in the second leg against Real Madrid.
More from Game preview
- Penalty miss from Haaland and later scored, late equalizer from Sheffield and final moment from Rodri extend City’s perfect start in the Premier League
- Manchester City vs Manchester United FA Cup Final: Predicted Lineup for City
- Manchester City vs Brighton & Hove Albion: Predicted Lineups
- Manchester City vs. Real Madrid: Predicted lineup for Manchester City
- Manchester City vs. Real Madrid: The 3 Keys to Victory
Palace currently sit in ninth in the Premier League table and will boast their pacy talisman Wilfried Zaha potentially alongside new January arrival Cenk Tosun, who moved to South London from Everton. The Turkish international could complete an intriguing Eagles frontline that also features Jordan Ayew. Palace are just three points separated from Sheffield United in sixth place.
This will not be the easiest of fixtures for City, but they will definitely be expected to pick up all three points at home. In one of the final matches before Laporte’s return, the real season is about to begin for the Blues as they finally come out of what has been a difficult stretch to open 2019/20.
Prediction: Manchester City 2-1 Crystal Palace