Crystal Palace vs Manchester City 20/10/19

20 October 2019

Premier League (PL) action resumes this weekend, as Crystal Palace welcome Manchester City to Selhurst Park with the PL top four within sight of the in-form home side.

Although the hosts have been caught off-guard twice in the opening eight rounds of the PL fixtures (W4, D2, L2), none of those defeats has arrived at home (W2, D2). In fact, only one of eight goals the Eagles have allowed this term has come at Selhurst Park where Crystal Palace are yet to concede the opener. Taking into account their last two PL home fixtures from the final stage of the 2018/19 campaign, Roy Hodgson’s men are now unbeaten in six PL home games (W3, D3). But, for this game’s hosts, goals have been at a premium so far, as they remain the only team in the upper half of the table to score less than ten goals (8). Additionally, three of the four goals the Glaziers have netted at home have come in the second half, which could be a huge problem here.

Palace’s slow starting mode stays in sharp contrast to visiting Manchester City, who have opened the scoring inside the opening 25 minutes in three of four PL trips so far (W3, L1). The Citizens have not only bagged more away goals (13) than any other side in the PL this term, but they’ve netted at least one goal in all eight halves of the PL away action played thus far. Pep Guardiola, however, has to worry about his leaky defense that has already shipped five away goals, failing to keep a blank sheet in three consecutive league trips ahead of this one. Still, the reigning PL holders have won three of their last four league visits to Crystal Place (W3, D1), preserving a clean slate twice while restricting the hosts to one goal per match in the remaining two H2Hs.