The start to the season does not get any easier with a trip to reigning champions Manchester City. Of course, we have happy memories of this fixture from last season and Newcastle showed last weekend that they can be got at, so will lightening strike twice?
DATE/VENUE
27th August 2022 – Etihad Stadium, Ashton New Road, Manchester M11 3FF
KICK OFF
3pm
PREVIOUS MEETING
The last trip to the Etihad was of course a memorable one with the Eagles returning with a 2-1 victory under their belts thanks to goals at either ends of the game, from Wilfried Zaha (6) and Conor Gallagher (88).
WHO SCORED MAN OF THE MATCH – Conor Gallagher (9.4)
OFFICIALS
- Referee: Graham Scott
- Assistants: Harry Lennard, Adrian Holmes
- Fourth official: Darren Bond
- VAR: Simon Hooper
- Assistant VAR:Steve Meredith.
TEAM NEWS
PALACE – Nathan Ferguson, Jack Butland, James McArthur and James Tomkins are all ruled out through injury
CITY – Aymeric Laporte, is ruled out through injury while Jack Grealish and Nathan Ake are both doubts
DISCIPLINARY THIS SEASON
RED CARDS – none
YELLOW CARDS (2+) – Joao Cancelo (2)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 14/03/22 Palace 0-0 City
- 30/10/21 City 0-2 Palace
- 01/05/21 Palace 0-2 City
- 17/01/21 City 4-0 Palace
- 18/01/20 City 2-2 Palace
Last FIVE results for Palace:
- 23/08/22 Oxford 0-2 Palace
- 20/08/22 Palace 3-1 Villa
- 15/08/22 Liverpool 1-1 Palace
- 05/08/22 Palace 0-2 Arsenal
- 30/07/22 Palace 4-2 Montpellier
Last FIVE results for City;
- 24/08/22 Barcelona 3-3 City
- 21/08/22 Newcastle 3-3 City
- 13/08/22 City 4-0 Bournemouth
- 07/08/22 West Ham 0-2 City
- 30/07/22 Liverpool 3-1 City
LEAGUE POSITION
Heading into the fixture, City are 2nd with 7 points from 3 games played while Palace are 9th with 4 points.
RECORD AGAINST CITY
- Played 67
- Won 17
- Drawn 15
- Lost 35
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Kevin de Bruyne 8.09
- Wilfried Zaha 7.31
- Phil Foden 7.28
- Eberechi Eze 7.25
ONE TO WATCH
ERLING HAALAND
FORMER CLUBS – Byrne, Molde, Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund
Obviously City are blessed with a number of players to watch but the signing of the much touted Haaland in the summer takes them to what many see as the next level and gives City that one thing they have missed since Sergio Aguero.
Haaland’s goal scoring record speaks for itself – 62 in 67 games for Dortmund, 17 in 16 games for Salzburg and 20 in 21 games for Norway.
KEY CLASH
JOACHIM ANDERSEN v ERLING HAALAND
This will be a compelling match up and something completely different to challenge our Danish international. Eyes will be on Andersen more so since his performance against Liverpool and it will be interesting to see how he does in his attempts to contain Haaland.
PRE-MATCH FACTS
- Palace were one of 4 teams Manchester City failed to beat in the league last season, and were the only side Pep Guardiola’s men failed to score against
- Manchester City have only lost 2 of their past 54 league games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday – but both have come against Palace at Etihad Stadium
- The Eagles have taken 7 points from their past 4 league matches at City, as many as they had in their previous 15 visits
- City have found themselves 2 goals behind in 3 of their past 5 league matches – as many as in their previous 72 games – but didn’t lose any of them
- Palace are unbeaten against City in 2 games having beaten them at the Etihad last season and holding them to a goalless draw at Selhurst
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Wilfried Zaha (3 – 2nd in PL)
- ASSISTS – Eze/ Edouard/ Mitchell (1 – 9th in PL)
- PASSES – Marc Guehi (192 – 13th in PL)
- TACKLES – Jeffrey Schlupp (10 – 6th in PL)
- TOUCHES – Joachim Andersen (239 – 10th in PL)
- SHOTS – Wilfried Zaha (8 – 11th in PL)
- SAVES – Vicente Guaita (8 – 10th in PL)
DID YOU KNOW?
City adopted a red and black away kit in the 1960s after former assistant manager Malcolm Allison felt adopting the colours of AC Milan would inspire City to glory. The theory worked, as they won the 1969 FA Cup, 1970 League Cup and 1970 European Cup Winners’ Cup in red and black stripes.
PREDICTION
Much will depend on how we contain Haaland, and if we concentrate too much on that threat, City have a multitude of other threats. However, the fixture will suit Palace and their quick counter attack which City will be well aware of. It will be interesting to see how the hosts react to the draw with Newcastle last weekend, as they will want to make amends with all three points in this fixture. We suspect the result could go either way, with City just edging it.
FINAL SCORE: 2-1 City
BETTING ODDS
- Home – 1/6
- Draw – 13/2
- Away – 14/1
- Both teams to score – 10/11
RESOURCES
