The Manchester City vs Crystal Palace match will be played this Saturday, December 28, 2013 (7:00 AM Pacific), at the Etihad stadium. Manchester City is currently second in the Premier League with 38 points, just one point behind the leaders, Arsenal. Crystal Palace is 17th with only 16 points for their side. Both teams have won in their last match, they are in good form, but Manchester City is the clear favorite at their Etihad, since they have won all nine matches played home with convincing displays.
Crystal Palace has a new coach, it is Tony Pulis, the ex-manager of Stoke. His style of play upgraded Stoke from 3rd tier of English football to the Premier league, and made it a stable Premier League club. Most of the people don’t like that intense, aggressive, physical style of play, but that apparently brings results to small clubs.
Crystal Palace is starting to play as he prescribes, and from the team which has conceded the most goals in the first matches, they can now boast of one of the best defenses in the league.
Manuel Pellegrini will probably mix it up a bit in this match, after City’s hard earned victory against Liverpool two days ago. Stevan Jovetic will maybe feature in this match, since the Montenegrin is finally reaching an optimal fitness level.
Marouane Chamakh returns from his suspension for Palace, and he will likely start this match. He will probably be the lone striker in the Pulis defensive formation.
PREDICTION
This is likely to be a game of cat and mouse. Crystal Palace won 3 points in the last match, and for the first time since the beginning of the season they are out of the relegation zone. We don’t think that even the biggest optimist would expect anything of their travel to Manchester, and probably they will only want to minimize the damage that City will surely make, and look to their next home game against Norwich, which is far more important for them.
City will probably bench some of their best players, but they have squad depth and the squad rotation players who will perform in this match are maybe more dangerous than the first team regulars, since they will try to give their best, and prove to Pellegrini that he should pick them more often. Considering all of the facts, the prediction is that Manchester City will beat Crystal Palace 3:0.
TV INFO: The Manchester City vs Crystal Palace match will be televised this Saturday, December 28, 2013 on NBC Sports Network at 7:00 AM Pacific.
CONFIRMED LINEUPS
Manchester City: Hart, Boyata, Kompany (C), Nastasic, Clichy, Garcia, Fernandinho, Navas, Silva, Milner, Dzeko. Subs: Pantilimon, Lescott, Kolarov, Yaya Toure, Rodwell, Negredo, Nasri
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Mariappa, Gabbidon, Delaney, Parr, Ward, Jedinak, Bannan, Puncheon, Bolasie, Jerome. Subs: Price, Moxey, Campana, Jonny Williams, Phillips, Gayle, Chamakh.
Highlights
