Fresh from their midweek victory over Aston Villa, Manchester City can momentarily climb to the Premier League summit if they beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday lunchtime.
The Citizens will be seeking revenge against the Eagles after they let a two-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 in the reverse fixture at the Etihad Stadium in December.
Match preview
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Since replacing Roy Hodgson at the end of February, Oliver Glasner has earned five points from his first five Premier League games in charge of Crystal Palace, with a 3-0 win over Burnley followed by two draws and two defeats.
Solitary points were claimed in 1-1 draws with relegation-threatened duo Luton Town and Nottingham Forest, before the Eagles suffered a slender 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth on Tuesday night courtesy of a 79th-minute strike from Justin Kluivert.
Although Palace have won only two league matches out of 10 since the turn of the year, they remain on course to preserve their top-flight status for a 12th successive season as they currently sit 14th in the table and eight points clear of the relegation zone, with a game in hand on 18th-placed Luton.
After winning only one of their opening nine home league matches this season, Palace have since picked up 10 points in their last five fixtures at Selhurst Park. The Eagles have won four top-flight games on home soil so far this term and have scored exactly three goals on each occasion.
However, goals have been hard to come by in recent home encounters with Man City, as they have failed to find the net in each of their last four meetings with the Citizens in front of their own fans – Luka Milivojevic was the last Palace player to score a home goal against them in a 3-1 defeat in April 2019.
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After back-to-back top-flight draws against title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal, Man City returned to winning ways in comfortable fashion as they put Aston Villa to the sword 4-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.
Villa's Jhon Duran cancelled out an early opener from Rodri, but Phil Foden stole the headlines with a superb hat-trick, increasing his career-best goal tally in all competitions to 21 for the season, to help the hosts power past their top-four chasing counterparts.
Man City still sit third in the table and one point behind second-placed Arsenal, while they are three points behind leaders Liverpool, who beat Sheffield United 3-1 on Thursday night. With just eight games remaining, Pep Guardiola believes the three-way title race could go down to the wire and be decided on the final day of the season.
Boasting a 15-game unbeaten run in the top flight as well as a 25-match undefeated streak in all tournaments, Man City can be confident of success in the capital this weekend as they have not lost any of their last eight Premier League away games against Crystal Palace – winning six and drawing two – since a 2-1 loss in April 2015.
Man City have not been at their strongest in London from a defensive perspective, though, as they have kept just one clean sheet in their last nine top-flight away games against capital-based opposition, but that solitary shutout came against Palace in a narrow 1-0 win last season.
Not only would a victory on Saturday for Guardiola's men boost their Premier League title and double-treble hopes, but it would also keep spirits high within the Citizens camp ahead of a Champions League quarter-final first-leg showdown with Real Madrid in Spain next Tuesday.
Team News
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Crystal Palace defender Chris Richards missed the defeat at Bournemouth due to a knee injury and is the latest name to join Sam Johnstone (elbow), Cheick Doucoure (Achilles), Marc Guehi, (knee), Rob Holding (foot), Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (thigh) and Matheus Franca (groin) in the treatment room.
However, Glasner has confirmed that star winger Michael Olise, who has been sidelined since February 3 with a hamstring injury, is ready to return to the the matchday squad and could play for the final 15-20 minutes as a substitute, meaning Jordan Ayew and Eberechi Eze are in line to keep their places in attack.
Jefferson Lerma was deployed as a left-sided centre-back against Bournemouth in the absence of Richards and the Colombian is set to continue in a back three alongside Joachim Andersen and Joel Ward, while Will Hughes and Adam Wharton could link arms again in centre-midfield.
As for Man City, defensive duo Kyle Walker (hamstring) and Nathan Ake (unspecified) are both ruled out due to injury, but first-choice goalkeeper Ederson (muscle) could return according to Guardiola.
Having watched on as an unused substitute in the last two games, John Stones may be in a position to earn some minutes against Palace, although a start seems unlikely, so a back four of Rico Lewis, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol could remain intact.
Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne were both rested in midweek but could be recalled to the starting lineup against Palace – the latter has scored four goals in his previous two meetings with the Eagles, but he enters Saturday's contest having failed to find the net in 12 of his last 17 appearances for club and country.
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Henderson; Ward, Andersen, Lerma; Munoz, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell; Ayew, Mateta, Eze
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Ortega; Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri; Bernardo, De Bruyne, Foden, Doku; Haaland
We say: Crystal Palace 1-3 Manchester City
Although Palace have struggled to score in recent home meetings with Man City, they have frustrated the Citizens on numerous occasions at Selhurst Park and can be optimistic of breaching their backline this time around, considering Guardiola's side have kept only three clean sheets in 14 top-flight away games this season.
Keeping the visitors quiet at the other end could prove challenging for the Eagles, though, especially with a makeshift defence amid their injury concerns, and City - who have scored in each of their last 11 away matches - should have few problems exploiting that en route to claiming maximum points.
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Oliver Thomas
