Manchester City will be targeting a return to winning ways when they host Crystal Palace in a Premier League fixture on Saturday. Palace have proved to be a bogey team for City lately but the Champions are still expected to have too much quality for the visitors.
Manchester City were given a stern test last time out in their 3-3 draw at Newcastle United. Having taken an early lead through Ilkay Gundogan, they were quickly pegged back and fell 3-1 down before efforts from Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva salvaged a point.
Despite falling just short of an impressive turnaround, fighting back from 3-1 down showed great character from the champions. However, beyond returning to winning ways on Saturday, manager Pep Guardiola will be keen to make a statement and regain their air of invincibility.
The good news for Manchester City is that they return to the Etihad Stadium where they often do their best work. They have already claimed a 4-0 home victory over Bournemouth this season and have won their last five Premier League matches in front of their fans.
Crystal Palace appear to have put their opening day defeat to Arsenal behind them and are looking impressive at the moment. The spark for their campaign appears to be the 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield.
The Eagles earned their first Premier League win of the season last time out as they came from behind to see off Aston Villa 3-1 with Wilfried Zaha netting a brace. They followed that up with a 2-0 win at Oxford United in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
Although Crystal Palace are coming off an away win in the Carabao Cup, they are generally bad travellers in the league. Patrick Vieira’s men have claimed just one win from their last six away matches in the Premier League.
How the bookies view it
The bookies have installed Manchester City as overwhelming favourites with a home win priced at 3/16 by SBK. A victory for Crystal Palace is valued at 17/1 with 10bet while a draw is set at odds of 7/1 by Unibet.
Head to head
Crystal Palace have been one of the teams to trouble Manchester City in recent times and were unbeaten against the champions last season. The Eagles claimed a 2-0 victory in the clash at the Etihad Stadium.
Players to watch
Erling Haaland appears to be slowly finding his feet at Manchester City with three goals already this season and could be backed to score anytime at 4/7 with bet365. However, Ilkay Gundogan is always a goal threat from midfield and having scored twice already this season, could offer more value in the same market at 11/5 with BetVictor.
As always, Crystal Palace will look to Wilfried Zaha to provide the spark in attack with the forward enjoying a fine start to the season, scoring three goals in three matches. He was also on target at the Etihad last season and is priced at 5/1 by bet365 to find the net on Saturday.
Anything else catch the eye?
Manchester City have struck early in their last two matches and could be backed to score before the 28th minute at 5/6 with bet365. The Citizens are expected to be comfortable on Saturday and could be tipped to win both halves at 13/10 with Paddy Power.
With Manchester City looking to make a statement on Saturday, a -2 handicap can be considered at 7/5 with Paddy Power.
This English Premier League match between Manchester City and Crystal Palace will be played on Aug 27, 2022 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Manchester City vs Crystal Palace prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
