Crystal Palace V Manchester City – The Opposition

Manchester City look to build on their 4-1 derby win as the travel to Selhurst Park and a Monday night date with Crystal Palace. The blues will be looking for revenge on Patrick Vieira’s side as the Eagles inflicted a first home defeat of the season at the end of October, when they won 2-0 at Etihad Stadium.

It was Palace’s first away win of the season which moved them away from the relegation zone and left City five points behind then leaders Chelsea.

Form

Since that meeting, Palace have claimed a further 21 points to push them up to 11^th in the Premier League table. Although not mathematically clear of the bottom three, only a terrible run of form, together with an amazing run by the teams below them would see Palace dragged into a relegation dogfight. However, the manager has got the team moving in the right direction and it is highly unlikely that Palace will be playing anything other than Premier League football next season.

However, the Eagles have won 5 and lost 7 of their 18 Premier League matches since that 2-0 win in Manchester, and have only won four on home patch all season. City meanwhile, have the best away record in the Premier League and will want to avoid another league ‘double’ by a London club.

Danger Men

Wilfried Zaha is top scorer for Palace, having scored 9 goals for the Eagles this season in all competitions. With 30%, Zaha has the second highest goal conversion rate, with Marc Guéhi taking the title on that with 38%. However, Guehi has scored just 3 goals from 31 matches. Michael Olise has the highest shot accuracy with 70%, while Conor Gallagher has attempted the most shots with 36.

Olise is Palace’s leading provider with 7 assists up to now. He has created 19 chances for his teammates and has a pass accuracy of an impressive 82%. Gallagher has created the most chances from the Palace team with 35, five of which have been converted and he holds a pass accuracy of 83%.

Joachim Andersen and Tyrick Mitchell have both broken the 1,000 pass barrier, with the former attempting 1,874 from 27 matches and the latter has tried 1,316.

Who’s the Boss?

Former blue Patrick Vieira took charge of Palace following the departure of Roy Hodgson. Palace is Vieira’s third managerial post after taking the reigns at New York City FC in January 2016, before moving to France to spend two years managing Nice.

He has presided over 32 matches at Selhurst Park, winning and losing 10 each, giving him a win percentage of 31%.

Last Time at Selhurst Park

The blues last visited Palace in May 2021 and, after a goalless first half, quickfire goals by Sergio Aguero and Ferran Torres gave the blues a 2-0 win. The result put City within one win of the Premier League title.