Man City vs Crystal Palace: Premier League preview, team news, stats, predictions, kick-off time

Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Manchester City vs Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday; kick-off 3pm.

Team news

Pep Guardiola should have a near fully-fit squad to choose from when Manchester City host Crystal Palace in his 200th Premier League game in charge.

Raheem Sterling returned from a back problem to play in City's penalty shoot-out defeat to West Ham in the Carabao Cup in mid-week.

Ferran Torres is the only long-term absentee.

Crystal Palace will make a late decision on the fitness of Wilfried Zaha after he started on the bench against Newcastle.

A final decision will be made on the striker's fitness on Saturday morning, after he missed the final match before the international break through illness.

Vieira hopes Eberechi Eze will return before Christmas, while Nathan Ferguson should be able to join team training in the next couple of weeks.

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Follow Man City vs Crystal Palace in our dedicated live match blog. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel from 5.15pm on Saturday.

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Last time out...

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Jones Knows prediction

The Jack Grealish-Joao Cancelo dynamic down Manchester City's left is quickly becoming a thing of beauty.

They have passed to one another 169 times this season - the most produced by a City combination in the opposition half. Cancelo's willingness and intelligence to move inside from full-back whilst Grealish takes two defenders out of the game out wide is almost impossible to defend against - as Brighton found out last weekend.

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The pair have yet to link up for a goal but it's only a matter of time. Cancelo has assisted three Grealish shots and Grealish has assisted four Cancelo shots, including two in last weekend's 4-1 thrashing of Brighton. Palace's Joel Ward has a big job on his hands trying to stop these two with the 18/1 with Sky Bet about Cancelo scoring from a Grealish assist worth a small interest in a game where it's hard to see the away side causing too many problems.

SCORE PREDICTION: 2-0 | BETTING ANGLE: Jack Grealish to assist Joao Cancelo for a goal (18/1 with Sky Bet)

Premier League Preview: Redknapp's Tottenham vs Man Utd verdict | Will West Ham's rise continue? | Problems for Norwich, Everton

Pete Smith is joined by Jamie Redknapp, Oliver Yew and Simeon Gholam to preview another bumper weekend of Premier League action.

PART 1 | Jamie Redknapp previews the Saturday Night Football clash between Tottenham and Manchester United. Will United bounce back from their humiliating 5-0 defeat to Liverpool last weekend?

PART 2 | Pete Smith is joined by Oliver Yew and Simeon Gholam to look ahead to Aston Villa vs West Ham on Super Sunday. West Ham's season continues to get better and better after their Carabao Cup victory against Man City. Will that good run continue at Villa Park?

PART 3 | Norwich vs Leeds on Super Sunday and Wolves vs Everton on Monday Night Football: Pressure building on Daniel Farke, Rafael Benitez looking for solutions.

Opta stats

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• Manchester City have lost just one of their last 12 Premier League meetings with Crystal Palace (W9 D2), going down 3-2 at home in December 2018.
• Since they returned to the Premier League in 2013-14, Crystal Palace conceded 39 goals in 16 Premier League meetings with Man City, keeping just one clean sheet in the process. The Eagles have also failed to score in 11 of those 16 meetings.
• Man City have lost just one of their last 50 Premier League games that have kicked off at 3 o'clock on a Saturday (W43 D6), though it was a 2-3 defeat to Crystal Palace in December 2018.
• After losing 1-0 at Spurs on the opening weekend, Manchester City are unbeaten in their last eight Premier League games (W6 D2). The Citizens are also yet to concede a goal at home in the Premier League so far this term.
• Crystal Palace have conceded 2+ goals in each of their last six away Premier League games (15 conceded) - they've never conceded 2+ goals in seven consecutive away matches in the competition.
• 91% of Crystal Palace's Premier League goals this season have been scored in the second half of games (10/11), the highest ratio in the division. The Eagles' only goal before half-time this season came in first-half stoppage time in their 1-1 draw against Brighton.
• This will be Man City boss Pep Guardiola's 200th Premier League game in charge (currently W146 D25 L28). Whatever the result, the Spaniard has already won more of his first 200 in the competition than any other manager to reach the milestone.
• Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke has made more Premier League appearances without scoring against Man City (13) than vs any other side. Following his goal against Arsenal, the Belgian forward now has five goals in his last 10 away league games, as many as in his previous 32.
• Gabriel Jesus has been involved in nine goals in his last nine Premier League starts for Manchester City, scoring three and assisting six. The Brazilian has five Premier League assists in total this season, only providing more in a single campaign in 2019-20 (7).
• With two goals and one assist last time out against Brighton, Man City's Phil Foden was involved in at least three goals in a Premier League game for the first time. However, the young Englishman has only had a hand in five goals in his last 21 Premier League appearances at the Etihad Stadium (2 goals, 3 assists).

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