Manchester City are back in Premier League action on Saturday afternoon with an away clash against Crystal Palace.
Wednesday night saw City pick up their first win since October with a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium.
After seeing the Blues lose four league games in a row, Jamie Carragher said City were out of the title race, despite still having over half the campaign left to play.
Now with their midweek win giving Pep Guardiola’s side a much-needed confidence boost, the champions will be looking to seal another win this time around at Selhurst Park.
In the build-up to this clash in the capital, a pundit and former top-flight player has dropped his assessment of how the game could pan out for both sides.
Josko Gvardiol, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan of Manchester City celebrate 2nd goal during the Premier League match between Manchester City FC...
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Paul Merson delivers prediction for Man City vs Crystal Palace
While previewing and predicting the scores for all of this weekend’s round of Premier League fixtures, Paul Merson said this about City’s clash with Palace in his latest column for Sportskeeda.
MORE MAN CITY STORIES
He said: “Pep Guardiola went back to his tried and tested line-up and Manchester City returned to winning ways. That win over Nottingham Forest will be a huge sigh of relief.
“If my memory serves me right, I remember City once going to Crystal Palace with the Premier League title on the line and they ended up winning comfortably.
“If they win this game, that’s two in a row and suddenly they’re on the right track. I expect that to happen even though Palace got a brilliant result against Ipswich Town on Tuesday.
“City face Manchester United in the derby after the trip to Palace and anything short of a win at Selhurst Park will be a huge blow. Crystal Palace 0-2 Manchester City.”
City could be without key defensive duo against Palace
Against Forest, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake made up 50% of City’s defensive line, although both players went off with suspected injuries before the final whistle.
In his post-Palace press conference, Guardiola shared an update about Akanji and Ake, saying that while the latter will definitely miss Saturday’s game, the former could be in with a chance of playing.
Premier League 2024/25 Matches Won Drawn Lost Goals Scored Goals Conceded Clean Sheets
Manchester City 14 8 2 4 25 19 3
Crystal Palace 14 2 6 6 12 18 3
However, with Southampton (11) being the only club in the league who have scored fewer goals than Palace (12) this season, perhaps this is a game where City’s defence won’t be particularly busy.
Despite that, this will still be a match that Guardiola will be desperate to win and see his side hopefully start a consistent run of victories as well as avoiding any other injury concerns.
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