Crystal Palace vs Manchester City preview, team news, match tickets, and prediction

Crystal Palace have been in terrible form in recent times failing to win any of their last five Premier League matches. As expected, Manchester City have been quite excellent in 2024 and are firmly in the title race alongside Liverpool and Arsenal as we approach the final weeks of the season.

The Eagles have not had it all easy in the Premier League this campaign and that has led to the dismissal of Roy Hodgson in February. Oliver Gasner, who won the Europa League with Frankfurt, was appointed in the veteran’s place and it is left to be seen whether he can lead them to Premier League safety.

Before the season got underway, Crystal Palace added some new faces to their team over the summer as they signed Matheus França from Brazilian club side Flamengo, English goalkeeper Dean Henderson from Premier League giants Manchester United, Rob Holding from Arsenal, and Jefferson Lerma from Bournemouth on a free transfer. In return, the Eagles had to release the likes of Luka Milivojevic, Jack Butland, Wilfred Zaha, and Vicente Guaita who left for Shabab Al-Ahli, Rangers, Galatasaray, and Celta de Vigo respectively on free transfers.

Crystal Palace have found it difficult to grind out results this season, managing just six wins all season long as of the time of writing. Their recent form has been quite poor with the Eagles failing to win a single Premier League match from their last five, slumming to three defeats, one win, and one draw. The terrible run started on matchday 12 when Crystal Palace welcomed Everton to Selhurst Park in a five-goal thriller that saw the Eagles narrowly lose 3-2 before going ahead to suffer back-to-back defeats after Luton Town got the best of them in a keenly contested match. A 1-1 draw against West Ham United seemed to be some sort of silver lining for the Eagles but further back-to-back home defeats have buried any hope of a resurgence. Now, they are hoping to pick themselves up following the Austrian’s appointment and they need a good result against Guardiola’s fearsome side.

Meanwhile, Manchester City made history last term by winning the treble and in a bid to freshen things up decided to offload a couple of players for a rebuild to happen. The likes of Cole Palmer went to Chelsea, Riyad Mahrez to Al Ahli, Aymeric Laporte to Al Nassr, Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Cancelo to Barcelona, and Benjamin Mendy to Lorient.

As replacements, defender Josko Gvardiol was signed from RB Leipzig, Matheus Nunes from Wolverhampton Wanderers, Jeremy Doku from Stade Rennes, and Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea. These signings have been decent with only Doku looking like one close to making an instant impact for Pep. Having conquered the whole of Europe and English football, Guardiola has been relaxed about the chances of his side but they have remained competitive on all fronts. The Citizens started the season well, defeating Burnley in the first game of the season thanks to goals from Haaland and Rodri. Then, they won their next five games against Newcastle, Sheffield United, Fulham, West Ham, and Nottingham Forest. However, their run was halted by Wolverhampton Wanderers. Afterwards, the champions dipped in form, suffering losses to Arsenal and Aston Villa and drawing against Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham in their last seven games. However, they have slowly managed to close the gap with a run of three consecutive wins and some unimpressive results from the teams above them on the log. After a winning run at the Club World Cup, Guradiola’s men are back to their best and they have clawed their way back into the title conversations as the season is nearing its end.

Crystal Palace have a huge job on their hands as they play host to the side from Manchester and anything short of at least a point could spell doom for the London side. It is a fixture that guarantees goals and this could be another spectacle.

Match tickets

The epic match at Selhurst Park in London kicks off on Saturday 6th April 2024, at 3 PM UK time.

The magnificent 25,486-capacity stadium is the place to be for this clash between the title challengers and the side battling for survival.

Getting tickets for the Crystal Palace vs Manchester City tickets could take a lot of work given the standard of this game. Hence, you are advised to search ticket reselling sites should they be expectedly sold out on each club’s channels.

Team news

Line-ups

Palace have generally been poor this whole campaign and the fans have voiced their displeasure on several occasions. The Eagles have many key players out on the sidelines including Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise, and Rob Holding as of the time of writing, who are dealing with various injuries. Meanwhile, Cheick Doucoure is ruled out for the remainder of the season with an Achilles injury.

Crystal Palace: Johnstone, Ward, Anderson, Guehi, Clyne, Hughes, Richards, Lerma, Ayew, Edouard, Eze.

Manchester City have welcomed Kevin de Bruyne back from injury and he has been playing a part in everything they have been doing. Apart from the Belgian, Manuel Akanji and John Stones are those in and out of the physio’s room but could be available for this trip to South London. Striker Erling Haaland should feature alongside Julian Alvarez in attack for this one.

Manchester City XI: Ederson; Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Rodrigo, Julian Alvarez, De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland, Phil Foden.

Prediction

Palace are one of the few teams with a decent record against Manchester City in the Premier League. With this game coming at a crucial time as this, the Citizens might just up the ante and take the win here.

Crystal Palace 1-3 Manchester City