Palace likely to be awkward customers for the champions.
While Liverpool v Chelsea is the sexier offering on Sunday afternoon, Manchester City’s trip to Selhurst Park is equally as important in the scheme of the title race.
Pep Guardiola will be desperate to avenge the shock 3-2 defeat at The Etihad that Palace dished out to them, and his team selection against Spurs in the Champions League suggests the Premier League is still very much his top priority.
Palace are a weird team: they have the seventh-best away record in the Premier League, and yet only Fulham and Huddersfield have a worse home record. Of course, the match on Sunday will be dominated by City—creating that away-from-home scenario which will suit Palace—and don’t forget it was The Eagles who came within a missed stoppage-time penalty of ending City’s unbeaten start last season. This is not an away banker.
I believe Palace will give City an incredibly tough game, but I’m backing the visitors to edge past them. It’s such a good opportunity to pile pressure onto Liverpool, and City to win and under 3.5 goals is generously-priced at 6/5.
Just two of Palace’s home games have seen over 3.5 goals, and Roy Hodgson will make sure things are kept as tight as possible.
City won’t blow Palace away. Not in a million years.
44% of Palace’s home games have been goalless at half-time—including ones against Spurs and Chelsea (the home games against Liverpool and Arsenal saw the deadlock broken a minute before half-time)—and I can see this being an incredibly frustrating afternoon for Pep’s men.
14/5 for a goalless first half looks decent value.
If you feel goals are on the way, there are few better candidates to find the net than Raheem Sterling.
Razza’s scored four times in his nine matches against Palace, and I can see him adding to his 15-goal Premier League tally on Sunday.
Perhaps Sergio Aguero is the obvious option, but with James Tomkins and Mamadou Sakho both out for Palace, Sterling’s pace could tear back-up centre-halves Scott Dann and Martin Kelly to shreds.
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