Man City and Crystal Palace will go head-to-head in the FA Cup final on Saturday at Wembley.
The contest is huge for both teams as Palace have never won the competition in their history, and for City, this season has been a tough one, and they can salvage the campaign a little by winning some silverware to round it off.
Pundits and fans have struggled to separate the two teams, as Jamie Carragher has predicted Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup, while Paul Merson feels Man City will do it.
What is certain is that the two teams will provide the neutrals with top entertainment, and after playing out a 5-2 thriller at the Etihad Stadium last month, Palace boss Oliver Glasner sent Pep Guardiola a warning for the next time they met.
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Oliver Glasner told Pep Guardiola he will solve Man City puzzle
A Kevin De Bruyne masterclass was the difference between Man City and Crystal Palace when the two Premier League teams met last month, as the Belgian inspired his team to come back from 2-0 down.
Palace’s inability to pick up the likes of De Bruyne was their downfall on the day, and after the contest at the Etihad, Glasner told Guardiola that he would solve that issue and his 4-2-3-1 system the next time they met.
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“I didn’t say that we would beat him the next time. I said we will solve it,” Glasner told Men in Blazers. “Because in this game, he played with eight players more or less in the middle of the pitch, and they found the pocket players too often because we didn’t close it well enough. I could see that during the game, but we couldn’t change it.
“And so we were too vulnerable, because we scored two goals, as you mentioned, we scored almost a third quarter was disallowed, and we will be able to create our chances, but we have to find a better way how we defend them, because we played them three times since I arrived at Crystal Palace, and we always scored two goals, but we conceded four, two and five, so clearly too many goals.
“This is what we’re all looking forward to competing with the best, and Pep is definitely one of the best in soccer and not just this year, but over a decade.”
Sam Allardyce believes Man City have an advantage over Crystal Palace heading into the FA Cup final, as the former Premier League boss thinks the Manchester club’s experience in big games could get them over the line.
Glasner has several issues he needs to sort out before his trip to Wembley, and the 5-2 defeat to Man City the last time they met showed that the Eagles know how to hurt the Manchester club.
Warning signs in Man City 5-2 Crystal Palace
Man City were blitzed during the opening 30 minutes of their 5-2 win over Crystal Palace last month as the Manchester club fell two goals behind, and it could have been a third, however, Eberechi Eze was just offside.
Had that stood, the final result of the game would have been very different, as the De Bruyne masterclass that followed would have been unlikely to occur.
The contest at the Etihad gave Guardiola plenty of warnings as his team cannot be so open to the counterattack during the FA Cup final on Saturday, and they definitely cannot go two goals behind, as this time, it would be very tough to overturn that deficit.
Erling Haaland is a big fan of Eze and keeping the midfielder quiet could be key to Man City’s success, as the England star has been on fire in recent weeks and hurt City the last time they met.