Palace head to the Etihad to take on Manchester City in the early Saturday afternoon kick-off (12:30), aiming to secure their Premier League safety for another season.
City – who are in fourth place – have only lost one of their last nine games against Palace and have beaten the Eagles on their last four occasions at the Etihad.
Over the last 10 game, Palace have claimed more points than City having beaten Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool but come into the game off the back of two consecutive losses. City will be looking to capatilise to secure their place in the Champions League next season, with them currently three points behind Liverpool.
Manager’s view
Pep Guardiola: “It will be tight until the last game in London against Watford. We have three games at home now. All the games are tough. We knew that, we could not forget about the position of Middlesbrough.
“They are fighting to survive to stay in the Premier League and these are the most difficult teams to face.
“Now we have three games at home – Crystal Palace, Leicester and West Brom – and those games will decide whether we deserve to be in the Champions League next season or not,” Guardiola told the Manchester Evening News.
Sam Allardyce: “Mama’s back in France doing his rehab. He’s giving himself the best chance he can on recovery. No time frame on it.
“We need to defend correctly again. Our defending against Burnley was ridiculous for the two goals, from wasting possession.
“City are the best team in the league at winning the ball back in the opposition’s half, the best defensively in your half.
“No doubt that one more win certainly does it. We had a disappointing week last week, but we were on Cloud 999 the week before.
“We would be safe if not for the decisions that went against us. We’ve lost four/five points from that, gained probably two from them.
“You’ve got to be clever enough and good enough to withstand City’s pressure before exploiting any weaknesses,” the Palace boss explained, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Team news
Manchester City: City duo Sergio Aguero and David Silva will be missing while John Stones and Fabian Delph are doubts.
Ilkay Gundogan remains out with a long-term knee injury with Claudio Bravo missing due to a calf strain.
Palace: The Eagles will be without three of their centre-backs with Mamadou Sakho, James Tomkins and Scott Dann all unable to feature, while Yohan Cabaye – who was absent for last weekend’s loss to Burnley – has picked up a knock and will be missing.
Andros Townsend picked up a knock and had to sit out of Friday’s training session but Sam Allardyce said that it was only as a precaution with the manager hoping that he will be available to name in his starting 11.
Connor Wickham and Pape Souare both remain out with long-term injuries but are both on the road to recovery, with Souare posting this on his Instagram.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BTqxSyMgyRC/?taken-by=p.souare_23
Officials
Referee: M Oliver
Assistants: J Collin and M Smart
Fourth Official: J Moss
