Crystal Palace vs Manchester City FC, Premier League 2022-2023, Today Match Prediction

Crystal Palace vs Manchester City FC Match Prediction & Analysis

Another week, another opportunity for Manchester City to put the pressure on Arsenal at the top of the league, although the Gunners don’t appear to be slipping just yet.

City have been on a good run recently, allowing them to keep pace with Mikel Arteta’s men and ensure that they are ready if the London side do slip up somewhere along the line. They also play each other soon.

Pep Guardiola’s men have the added distraction of the Champions League coming up this week, with City facing RB Leipzig in the second leg with the scores locked at 1-1.

Crystal Palace are well and truly in a relegation battle, despite being as high as 12th in the league. Just five points separate them and the bottom three.

As Palace are a team that haven’t won in quite some time (this year in fact), they aren’t inspiring a great deal of confidence that they can turn the situation around.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Crystal Palace Preview

Reasons to be cheerful:

     Four of their six league wins have come at home this season

     Will target set pieces as a route to success here

Reasons to be fearful:

     Winless in nine league games – the longest run of any team

     Lost five of their last seven against City

Crystal Palace’s form has fallen off a cliff since the start of 2023. Patrick Vieira’s men are suffering from a hangover that has seen them claim just five points from their last nine fixtures.

While they have a decent buffer between themselves and danger, that will gradually melt away if they don’t start to put points on the board soon.

Unfortunately, their run of fixtures doesn’t get any easier between now and the end of the month – Manchester City are followed by Brighton and Arsenal, before crunch games against strugglers Leicester, Leeds, Southampton and Everton.

As always, home form will go a long way to securing their safety. They have claimed two thirds of their wins at Selhurst Park.

Their record against City, like most teams, isn’t great, however.

Star Man – Wilf Zaha

Having Zaha back is massive for Palace as it gives them both a goal threat and a creative outlet for his teammates to feed off. 

Manchester City FC Preview

Reasons to be cheerful

     Won 12 of their last 17 against Palace

     The resurgence of Phil Foden has come at a great moment

Reasons to be fearful

     Have the distraction of the Champions League a few days later

     Already dropped more away points than the whole of last season (15 vs. 11)

While Manchester City have been here before and have the experience of winning the league on multiple occasions, there is still the potential for them to be distracted by the lure of the Champions League.

City have famously never won the top European prize, meaning that they could prioritise their midweek game against RB Leipzig. There will certainly be an element of player rotation in this game.

That said, City have an excellent record against Palace, losing on only two occasions over the past eight years. They also appear to have put their pool spell of form after the World Cup behind them.

This won’t be an easy game, but they should be able to power past the Eagles.

Star Man – Phil Foden

Foden has been electric in recent weeks, sparking City into life with his return to form. He may be rested for the midweek game in Europe, but he’ll add so much energy and quality if he does play.