MANCHESTER CITY were able to rotate heavily for their midweek trip to Serbia to face Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League in midweek.
And they have what looks like just about as straightforward as it gets on Saturday when an out-of-form Crystal Palace visit the Etihad.
City came out of their form slump last week after going behind at Luton Town and they dug out what could yet be a priceless win after an unprecedented run of four games without a win.
They then went to Serbia and beat Red Star Belgrade 3-2 minus Erling Haaland, who is back in training, but remains a big doubt to face Palace.
But Palace look deep in trouble this season with veteran manager Roy Hodgson feeling every one of his 76 years.
They have collected just one point out of a possible 15 and Hodgson snapped at his fans recently. He's not been helped by an injury crisis that sees striker Odsonne Edouard, midfielder Jefferson Lerma and keeper Sam Johnstone all sidelined which adds to an already long list of crocks. No.3 keeper – former St Johnstone and Hamilton Accies shotstopper Remi Matthews will start in Manchester.
How the bookies view it
Manchester City are huge 2/11 favourites with Coral, as you would expect.
Crystal Palace are 16/1 underdogs with UniBet and the draw is 7/1 with bet365.
Recent head to heads
City won 4-2 at home and 1-0 in London last season. But the previous season, the Eagles stunned City with a shock 2-0 win in Manchester.
Players to watch
With Erling Haaland probably sidelined, City are likely to turn to Julian Alvarez to provide some goal threat after he was kept on the bench in midweek. The Argentinian is 6/5 to score anytime with UniBet on Saturday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta scored his first league goal of the season for Palace from the penalty spot last week against Liverpool and the Frenchman is 6/1 to score anytime with bet365.
Anything else catch the eye?
This really should be the perfect game for City to regain some of their condidence that has been lost recently against an out-of-form and imjury-weakened Palace.
They will come flying out the blocks to test this Palace side and although 7/10 on a half time and full time win with Coral is short, it looks just sbout as solid as you can get.
They are due to give a team a hammering and the Eagles could be caught in their nest. Back City to score over 3.5 goals at 9/4 with Betfred.
This English Premier League match between Manchester City and Crystal Palace will be played on Dec 16, 2023 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.
