Crystal Palace vs. Manchester City: Team News, Preview, Live Stream & TV Info
Manchester City travel to Crystal Palace on Monday evening in desperate need of three points. Arsenal and Manchester United both won over the weekend, leaving City in fourth position, their lowest of the campaign. The defending champions did not expect this when the season began.
Palace have been boosted by the arrival of Alan Pardew as manager and sit 12th in the table. However, their recent record against City is awful, having lost their last seven meetings with the Blues. City won the corresponding fixture last season—a significant moment in the title race—which was their last win in London.
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Date: Monday, April 6
Kick-Off: 8 p.m. BST, 3 p.m. ET
TV Listings: Live on Sky Sports 1 (U.K.) and NBCSN (U.S.)
Live Stream: Sky Go (U.K.) and NBC Sports Extra (U.S.)
Form Guide (last five league results)
Palace
Stoke City 1-2 Palace
Palace 3-1 QPR
Southampton 1-0 Palace
West Ham 1-3 Palace
Palace 1-2 Arsenal
City
City 3-0 West Brom
Burnley 1-0 City
City 2-0 Leicester
Liverpool 2-1 City
City 5-0 Newcastle
Predicted Formations
Palace
Palace are without Marouane Chamakh and Fraizer Campbell, both of whom are struggling with hamstring injuries. Jordon Mutch will also miss out with a thigh strain, and Mile Jedinak is suspended.
City
Manuel Pellegrini has a full-strength squad to choose from ahead of the trip to Selhurst Park. The question, as ever, is whether or not he will go with his favoured two up front, or decide instead to play an extra man in midfield.
Players to Watch
Palace: Wilfried Zaha
Former United man Wilfried Zaha has once again found form as a Palace player, and he will be the biggest threat to City on Monday night.
Zaha is a winger who commits defenders, and his ability to beat players makes him a huge threat. The City back line has ceded too much space at times this season, and if they do that on Monday night, it'll play right into Zaha's hands.
City: Vincent Kompany
It's been a difficult season for Vincent Kompany, and his red card in his last international match for Belgium against Israel has only exacerbated the situation. He needs a big performance for his club, and Monday would be a great time for him to show his quality.
He's been too easily ruffled this term, dragged out of position on too many occasions and culpable for goals because of moments of madness. It's a far cry from the player who was almost unanimously considered the best centre-half in the Premier League little over 12 months ago.
Key Battle: Scott Dann vs. Sergio Aguero
The pace and movement of Sergio Aguero can cause the best defenders problems, and Scott Dann knows full well he'll have to be on top form to stop the Argentine in this one.
Dann can sometimes struggle with nimble, fleet-of-foot forwards, and Aguero, who always seeks to exploit the weaknesses of those he's up against, will know that all too well.
He has scored 23 goals this season already, further underlining his quality in front of goal. There are very few strikers in world football who can match his goalscoring ability.
Odds (via Odds Shark)
Palace: +450
City: -165
Draw: +300
Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2014-15 season. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.
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