Manchester City vs Crystal Palace preview: no fresh injury worries for Guardiola ahead of Eagles clash

By Ric Turner, Fri 29 October 2021 15:09


Manchester City vs Crystal Palace preview: no fresh injury worries for Guardiola ahead of Eagles clashManager expects positive reaction from players after midweek Carabao Cup exit

Manchester City vs Crystal Palace

Competition: F.A. Premier League

Date: 3.00 pm, Saturday 30th October 2021

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester

Referee: Andre Marriner Assistants: A Holmes, S Ledger Fourth Official: A Taylor VAR: L Mason

Odds: City 1/6, Draw 7/1, Palace 18/1

Tickets: On sale via tickets.mancity.com

TV: Match of the Day

Manchester City

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Squad (from): Ederson, Steffen, Carson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Ake, Zinchenko, Laporte, Cancelo, Gundogan, Grealish, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Silva, Fernandinho, Foden, Palmer, Sterling, Jesus, Mahrez

Injured: Torres

Doubtful: None

Suspended: Mendy

Form guide: DWWWD

Crystal Palace

Manager: Patrick Vieira

Squad (from): Butland, Guaita, Matthews, Ward, Mitchell, Tomkins, Guehi, Andersen, Clyne, Kelly, Milivojevic, Olise, Kouyate, Hughes, Schlupp, McArthur, Gallagher, Riedewald, Ayew, Zaha, Mateta, Benteke, Edouard

Injured: Eze, Ferguson

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Form guide: LDDDD

City have no fresh injury concerns after the penalty shoot-out defeat at West Ham on Wednesday evening, meaning Ferran Torres is the only absentee for the visit of Palace. The fourth round exit at the London Stadium was City's first Carabao Cup loss in five years, but manager Pep Guardiola doesn't believe the result will affect his players adversely.

“It was in the news because we won four times in a row,” Guardiola said at Friday's press conference.

“Playing this competition until the end winning many times did not affect (us in) other competitions.

“I would have liked to continue in this competition, because of the results we achieved (in past seasons) playing in the FA Cup, arriving at the Champions League semi-finals because we are used to playing every two or three days.

“I congratulate West Ham on reaching the next round.

“We are not going to play in the Carabao Cup, we will prepare in the week for the next games.

“Was it nice to be out? Completely the opposite. We can handle it. You cannot win all the time.

“It's part of the game - in football and all of the sport. Normally you lose more than you win.”

City won their last home league game against Palace 4-0, with John Stones (2), Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling scoring for the Blues. Overall City have won 35 of the 65 games played against the Eagles, with 14 draws and 16 defeats.

Predicted line-up: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Ake, Cancelo, Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Grealish, Foden, Jesus

Score prediction: City 3 Palace 1