Manchester City will be returning to Premier League duty in a hope to shorten the gap with league leaders, Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola’s men are currently eight points away from the top and their task to climb up won’t be anything less but tricky as they face an in-form Crystal Palace side at Selhurst Park.
Match Details
Date- Saturday, October 19 | Kick-Off- 10:00 PM (IST) | Venue- Selhurst Park
Crystal Palace
In terms of players missing out, Connor Wickham has an ankle injury and is on the sidelines, while Mamadou Sakho is also in doubt of making it back to the team sheet. Luka Milivojeci has undergone the one-match suspension prior to the international break and should return to the eleven. It’ll be a toss-up between James McArthur and James McCarthy in central midfield against Manchester City. Jordan Ayew should be persisted with as the lone striker up front.
Post the 4-0 annihilation versus Tottenham Hotspurs, Crystal Palace bounced back in an impressive manner. A 1-1 draw with Wolves, followed by a 2-0 and a 2-1 win against Norwich and West Ham respectively. Crystal Palace currently finds itself at the 6th spot, while being on level terms with Chelsea and Leicester City as they’ve all got 14 points in the league.
Manchester City
Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane remain long term absentees for Manchester City. However, the good news for Pep Guardiola is that Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Benjamin Mendy are back in training and are in contention of returning to the team sheet. Joao Cancelo might have to be benched to make way for Mendy or Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back.
Otanemdi seems a certainty at centre back along with Kyle Walker at right-back. Rodrigo and David Silva could fill in at midfield. Meanwhile Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero be in charge of leading the attack.
Manchester City is definitely one of the teams to beat this season. But it’s the odd hiccups in the middle which is hurting them. A 3-2 defeat to Norwich followed by a 2-0 defeat at home against Wolves has now put them eight points away from Liverpool. Man City fans will be hoping to string up a comprehensive winning momentum in the days to come since Liverpool has already piled up huge amounts of pressure.
Predicted Lineups
Crystal Palace- Guaita; Ward, Kelly, Cahill, Aanholt; Zaha, McArthur, Milivojevic, Kouyate, Schlupp; Ayew
Manchester City-Ederson; Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Zinchenko; De Bryune, Rodrigo, Silva; Mahrez, Sterling, Aguero
Key Points
In the last six meetings between the two sides, it’s Manchester City who has dominated with four wins in contrast to Crystal Palace’s one win. One game ended in a draw during that period.
Manchester City has won 10 of their last 11 away games in the league.
Top Picks
For Crystal Palace, Jordan Ayew has been pivotal in terms of scoring goals. Ayew has scored three goals in seven appearances this season.
Manchester City has plenty of quality players, but it’s Raheem Sterling who’s on the back of scoring a brace for England against Bulgaria.
In the league, Raheem Sterling has scored six goals in seven Premier League appearances.
Sergio Aguero is the joint top scorer with Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham in the league so far. The Argentine has scored eight goals while making to assists for Manchester City in eight appearances.
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