Date: Saturday, December 28 Venue: Etihad Stadium Kick-Off: 15:00 Can Manchester City keep up their 100% home record when Crystal Palace visit the Etihad in the Premier League on Saturday?
Team News
Manchester City could welcome Matija Nastasic back into the starting line-up following an eight-game lay-off with a calf injury. The Serb was on the bench against Liverpool on Boxing Day. Top scorer Sergio Aguero has a calf injury of his own and remains out, as do Micah Richards and Stevan Jovetic (both hamstring) while Martin Demichelis is a doubt after pulling up in training. Crystal Palace manager Tony Pulis has no fresh injury concerns. Midfielders Kagisho Dikgacoi and Stuart O'Keefe are continued doubts after sustaining a knock and a thigh injury, respectively, while long-term absentees Jerome Thomas, Adlène Guédioura and Glenn Murray remain sidelined. (Daily Mail)
Key Stats
Manchester City have won five and lost only one of their last 10 home league meetings with Crystal Palace (D4). Palace have taken just two points from eight Premier League trips to Manchester (both City and United). City have equalled the Premier League record for goals scored after 18 games in a season (53 level with themselves in 2011-12). The PL record after 19 games is also 53. The Eagles have kept five clean sheets in their last eight Premier League matches.
The festive fixtures are coming in thick and fast with these two sides being pressed into action for the second time in the space of just two days. Both Manchester City and Crystal Palace enjoyed a successful Boxing Day with the former seeing off title rivals Liverpool and the latter clambering out of the relegation zone with a scrappy - but much needed - win over Aston Villa. In beating Liverpool, City extended their undefeated run at Etihad Stadium to nine games in the Premier League - an imperious statistic and one of which doesn't give palace much hope here on paper. The Eagles have only emerged victorious in this fixture once in their last 10 attempts, and have taken just two points from eight trips to Manchester in the topflight. Not a happy hunting ground for Tony Pulis's side, and the smart money is on another City home win. Prediction: 3-0
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
