Manchester City v Crystal Palace – The Opposition

Manchester City welcome Patrick Vieira Back to blue side of Manchester as the blues entertain Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.

The blues will be looking to consign their first League Cup defeat since 2016 to the history books as they return to league action. City need the three points to keep the pressure on Chelsea and Liverpool at the top of the table, while Palace are in equal need of the points to keep the distance between them and the Premier League’s bottom teams.

Form

Palace are the draw experts of the Premier League so far this season. From 9 matches, the Eagles have drawn six, including their last four fixtures. Their only win so far this season has come at home to Tottenham (3-0), and the two matches they have lost have been to Chelsea and Liverpool, both away from home and both by the same 3-0 scoreline.

Palace have drawn at home to Brentford (0-0), Brighton (1-1), Leicester (2-2) and Newcastle (1-1), while securing draws at West Ham and Arsenal, both 2-2. They are yet to win away from home and have failed to keep a clean sheet away from Selhurst Park.

Danger Men

Odsonne Edouard is the Eagles top scorer with 3 goals form 6 games. H e has attempted 8 shots so far, giving him a goal conversion rate of 38%. Christian Benteke has 2 goals from 10 games, while Wilfried Zaha and Conor Gallagher both have 2 goals from 9 matches.

Benteke and Gallagher have attempted the most shots, with the former making 17 and the latter 14. Michael Olise has scored 1 goal from two shots and has played 5 games so far this season.

Benteke, Zaha, Gallagher and Olise all have one assist each, with Jordan Ayew and Tyrick Mitchell also pitching in with an assist each. Mitchell has played ten matches so far and has attempted the most passes with 412. 304 have been completed, giving him a pass accuracy of 74%.

Ayew’s statistics show him as a more accurate passer. He has attempted 240 passes, with 214 completed from 9 matches, a pass accuracy of 89%, the highest of the Eagles team.

Who’s the Boss?

Former blue Patrick Vieira is the man in the Palace hotseat. After taking charge of City’s EDS team in 2013, Vieira went on the manage New York City FC in January 2016. Two years later, he moved back to his native France to manage Nice, before joining Palace in July.

Last Time Out

Last season, City put 4 past Palace without reply. John Stones gave City the lead in the 26^th minute, and Ilkay Gundogan made it 2-0 11 minutes into the second half. Stones got his second on 68 minutes and Raheem Sterling finished off the scoring two minutes from time.