Crystal Palace welcome runaway leaders Manchester City to Selhurst Park on New Year’s Eve in the penultimate Premier League match of 2017. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side made it 18 wins in a row with their victory over Newcastle United last time out and The Citizens look like an unstoppable machine right now. Crystal Palace boss, Roy Hodgson, will be aiming to break that superb record, but he knows that it will be very difficult.
English Premier League – Crystal Palace v Manchester City – Selhurst Park – Sunday 31st December 2017 – 12:00 UK Time
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Draw Best Odd of: 11/2 at Skybet |
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Crystal Palace
Manchester CityCrystal Palace
Crystal Palace have been much improved under Roy Hodgson, but their run of eight games unbeaten ended last time out against Arsenal. Palace went down to a 3-2 defeat to The Gunners, but Hodgson will have been pleased with what he saw from his players on that day. Andros Townsend and James Tomkins got the goals in that game, but Wilfried Zaha was impressive again down the left wing and Hodgson will be looking for him to cause the City backline problems on Sunday.
Manchester City
Manchester City beat Newcastle United 1-0 in their last game to make it 18 wins in a row and in all honesty, they probably should have won by a much bigger margin. Pep Guardiola’s side had 21 shots in the match but were very wasteful in front of goal with Sergio Aguero missing a number of gilt edged chances. Captain Vincent Kompany limped off early on against Newcastle United and the Belgian faces another extended spell on the sidelines. Guardiola may choose to freshen up his side for this game with the likes of Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus and Yaya Toure all looking for starts after spending the last game on the bench.
Talking Points
- Manchester City have won a record 18 games in a row in the Premier League.
- Raheem Sterling has scored 13 goals this season in the Premier League and the England winger is currently Manchester City’s top scorer.
- Manchester City have become the first English side to score 100 goals in a calendar year since Liverpool in 1982.
Prediction
Manchester City were in cruise control on their way to an 18th consecutive victory against Newcastle United last time out and on paper they should make it 19 in a row with a win here against Crystal Palace. Roy Hodgson has already beaten Chelsea this season though and also pushed Arsenal all the way in their last match, so this Palace team have shown they can cause the big teams problems. Manchester City have to drop points eventually, but I don’t think it will be this weekend.
Crystal Palace v Manchester City – Betting Odds and Predictions
Manchester City start this game as big favourites at odds of 1/4, whilst a home victory for Crystal Palace is priced up at 11/1, with the draw available at 24/5.
Top Betting Tip Crystal Palace v Manchester City
I do think City will win here, but I’m not going near them at those short odds. Both teams to score at 5/6 looks like a great bet to me, because even though City have been winning games, they have still been conceding goals and without John Stones and Vincent Kompany, they are a little short of quality in the centre of defence.
Both Teams to Score – 5/6 (Coral)