Manchester City travel to Selhurst Park for the second and final time this season to face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup fourth round this Saturday. The first visit ended with happiness for the Citizens, as Yaya Touré made his season debut against the Eagles and scored both goals (and also the game-winner) in a big 2-1 victory for City.
That game was one of the toughest of the campaign so far, and Pep Guardiola has said multiple times he didn't like the performance. It was a poor game to watch, but the win makes things better in the end.
Kevin De Bruyne was on the field that day, and he remembers how difficult those 90 minutes turned out to be. As the Belgian star prepares to play at Palace again, he's expecting nothing but a really tough game again.
“I don’t think this trip will be any different from the last game we played there earlier in the season. They still have a strong, physical team and that’s their playing style so it will be tough again.
“Plus we will be playing on what feels like a narrower pitch with the crowd right on top of you – you can guess what sort of game it’s going to be. It’s been the same sort of match on the two previous occasions I’ve played there so we expect the same again.”
Source: ManCity.com
A victory and City will go through to the fifth round of the FA Cup. A loss and more pressure will come City's way. Regardless of the result, we know one thing: it'll be very hard.