Manchester City vs Crystal Palace. Premier League.
Etihad StadiumAttendance53,983.
Saturday 16 January 2016 15:08, UK
Manchester City will be without Wilfried Bony, Fernandinho and Eliaquim Mangala for the visit of Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The injured trio will miss the match at the Etihad Stadium, where victory would see Manuel Pellegrini's side return to the top of the Premier League table for at least a couple of hours, with Leicester not in action until Saturday evening and Arsenal playing on Sunday.
Crystal Palace, meanwhile, suffered defeat at Aston Villa in midweek and will be hoping to score a first Premier League goal since Lee Chung-yong's winner at Stoke before Christmas.
Team news
City boss Pellegrini will select from the same squad that drew 0-0 with Everton on Wednesday.
Nicolas Otamendi and Martin Demechelis will continue in central defence in the absence of captain Vincent Kompany (calf). Mangala (hamstring), Bony (calf) and Fernandinho (muscle) are also out. Playmaker Samir Nasri remains a long-term casualty after undergoing hamstring surgery in November.
Connor Wickham is expected to return to Alan Pardew's starting XI.
The striker played 45 minutes after coming on as a substitute in Tuesday's 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa having recovered from a calf injury,
Pardew is, however, still without Yannick Bolasie, owing to a leg injury, and Dwight Gayle remains a doubt, despite returning to training following a hamstring problem.
Opta stats
City have won nine and lost just one of the last 10 meetings with Palace in all competitions.
Yaya Toure has scored in four of his last five matches against the Eagles in all competitions.
City have won their last six home games against Palace in a row, including all four played at the Etihad Stadium.
Palace have failed to score in four of the last five Barclays Premier League games against the Citizens.
Wickham has scored three goals in three Premier League games against Manchester City.
Palace have failed to score in four successive top-flight matches for the first time since February 1998 (five games).
Palace have kept just two clean sheets in their last 16 Premier League away matches and have conceded exactly one goal in each of the other 14 away games in this run.
Sergio Aguero hasn't scored in any of his three Premier League games against Palace - he's scored against 24 of the 28 different opponents he's faced in the competition (also failed to score versus Leicester, Burnley and Bolton).
Merson's prediction
No-one likes to say a side is a one-man team but Crystal Palace are really missing Yannick Bolasie at the moment. He is becoming a much better player being out of the team and they have missed his talents immensely. Wilfred Zaha hit the post after a minute against Aston Villa, but after that they never really looked like scoring at Villa Park.
I do not see anything but a Manchester City win here. If Palace had a full team out then I would think they could cause City's defence problems but without Bolasie they just haven't got the pace in the team. They have got Zaha but having pace down both flanks is a totally different proposition. I see City bouncing back from their draw with Everton thanks to a comfortable 3-0 win and Aguero scoring first.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0
Betting
City are 4/11 with Sky Bet with Crystal Palace 7/1 and the draw a 4/1 shot. City have a great record against the Eagles having won the last nine meetings and are 6/4 to win to nil and 7/4 to win with both teams scoring. Aguero and Yaya Toure both to score is 4/1.
