Crystal Palace vs Manchester City (Premier League) Match Preview, Team News, Head to Head, How To Watch

Following Manchester City’s statement 1-2 victory at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night, the Blues return to Premier League action with a trip to South London against Crystal Palace. 

City’s win away to Real Madrid was the first since 2020, and only the second time in their history, putting the Citizens in a strong position to qualify in the top-eight of the Champions League’s last-16 automatic qualification places.

All goals were scored in the first-half, as City recovered from Rodrygo’s opener inside half an hour. Goals from Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland in the space of eight minutes before half-time however helped Pep Guardiola’s side to move up to fourth in the league phase table.

Haaland, Phil Foden, and Rayan Cherki were all brought off the pitch in the 70^th minute, with a view towards rest for Sunday’s match against Crystal Palace, but also to maintain energy and legs against Xabi Alonso’s squad.

Manchester City’s 3-0 win over high-flying Sunderland last Saturday afternoon, following Arsenal’s 1-2 away loss to Aston Villa, has closed the gap at the top of the Premier LEague table to just two points.  

Looking towards their latest clash, the Blues have won all of their last four matches in all competitions and will be looking to extend that record on Sunday afternoon. However, the last trip to the capital was not exactly straightforward, with Fulham putting up a great effort to fall just short as City took all three points at Craven Cottage with a 4-5 win.

Crystal Palace meanwhile have won their last three matches in all competitions, also including a win away to Fulham. Their last defeat came from a 1-2 home defeat to Manchester United just under a fortnight ago.  

Interestingly, Oliver Glasner’s side’s only league losses this season have come when they play on the Sunday following a UEFA Conference League match on Thursday. The interesting part with that statistic relating to Manchester City? The Blues will play Palace on a Sunday following the hosts’ Conference League match in which they won 0-3 against Irish side Shelbourne on Thursday.

The Eagles sit fourth in the Premier League table, five points behind Manchester City, and will move to within just two points behind the eight-time champions with a victory this weekend. Here is everything you need to know for this clash! 

Match Details

Crystal Palace against Manchester City will take place at 14:00 (GMT) on Sunday 14^th December at Selhurst Park.

Match Officials

The Premier League have confirmed that Darren England will take charge of the match between the two sides, with Manchester City having won 10 out of the 11 matches they have played with him as referee.  

You can check out the full list of match officials below!

Match Officials: Darren England to referee Crystal Palace vs Manchester City

Team News

For Crystal Palace, winger Ismaila Sarr is a doubt for Sunday afternoon’s match but is still expected to join up with the Senegal national team for the upcoming African Cup of Nations. Daniel Munoz is also ruled out with a knee injury, sidelined for between four and six weeks.  

Jean-Philippe Mateta missed the midweek trip to Shelbourne with a suspected knee injury, but is expected to return for the match against Manchester City and presumably slot straight into the starting line-up.  

Cheick Doucoure, Chadi Riad, and Caleb Kporha also remain sidelined for Crystal Palace this weekend. 

As for Manchester City, Rodri will be unavailable once again but a promising update was given on the Spaniard by assistant coach Kolo Toure, who revealed that the midfielder is getting “sharper and sharper” as the 29-year-old looks to return to action soon.  

John Stones is also ruled out with a thigh injury, but the problem is not believed to be too big and he should be back in action soon. Mateo Kovacic remains sidelined following surgery on an Achilles issue that will keep him out of action until February at the very earliest. 

Sunday afternoon’s match will be the last in which Egyptian Omar Marmoush, and Algerian Rayan Ait-Nouri will be available for a prolonged period, as the pair head to Morocco to compete in the African Cup of Nations.

Press Conference Quotes

Pep Guardiola was absent from Friday afternoon’s pre-match press conference due to a ‘personal issue’, with former City defender and now first-team assistant coach Kolo Toure answering questions for the press.

On Pep Guardiola: “Pep [Guardiola] is fine. It’s just his own matter that didn’t bring him here, but apart from that everything is fine for him. He’ll be back, for sure… Absolutely [fine for Crystal Palace].”

On the fight with Arsenal: “We just focus on what we can do. We know the quality of Arsenal, they have a really strong squad, fantastic manager, but it’s all down to us.

“We have the best manager in the world, he’s doing an incredible job every day, his passion for the game, he loves the players, he loves his staff, and we know he will take us as far as we can to winning the league.

“We just focus on what we can do really, not on what Arsenal are doing. Every game is like a final for us.”

On Crystal Palace: “They’re a top team, they’re really good, fourth in the league, difficult to score goals against them – second best at the moment in not conceding goals. But for us, we focus on what we can do and we know that if we play our football, work hard as a team, we can beat any team in this league, for sure.”

Head To Head

The last meeting between the two sides came at Wembley Stadium back in May for the FA Cup final that saw Crystal Palace win their first ever major trophy in a 1-0 win. Manchester City went without a major trophy during the 2024/25 campaign for the first time in eight years.  

The previous league meeting was a 5-2 win for Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, despite Crystal Palace taking a 0-2 lead inside 21 minutes before Pep Guardiola’s players turned up the gears to take all three points. 

The last meeting at Selhurst Park was a 2-2 draw last December, with Rico Lewis seeing red late on. Palace have not won the fixture in a league meeting for just over four years, in a 0-2 win for the Eagles at the Etihad Stadium back in 2021.

Both teams have scored at least twice in their last four league meetings: two 2-2 draws, plus 4-2 and 5-2 wins for Manchester City. 

Statistics

Crystal Palace have opened the scoring within 10 minutes in four of their last six league meetings with Manchester City but they have still failed to win. 

Manchester City have scored 3+ goals in their last three Premier League outings. The last time they achieved the feat was back in April 2024. 

Crystal Palace’s 2-1 win over Fulham saw the Eagles claim a place in the Premier League’s top-four, marking the first time they have sat so high in the standings after 15 matches. 

Their tally of 26 points also represents the club’s best start to a top-flight campaign, doubling the total they had at this stage last season. 

Among players with 300+ minutes in the Premier League this season, Manchester City duo Jérémy Doku and Rayan Cherki have created the most chances per 90 (3.4). Including his exquisite ‘rabona’ against Sunderland, the latter is also assisting a goal every 80 minutes (five in 398 mins), which is the best-ever ratio in a Premier League campaign (300+ mins). 

How To Watch

Viewers in the United Kingdom will be able to watch the match live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Ultra HDR. 

Viewers in the United States will be able to watch live on NBC or stream live on peacock.  

A full list of global TV listings can be found here! 

City Xtra will have full live coverage available on X, Facebook and Instagram throughout the matchday, with content also on cityxtra.co.uk!