Marmoush has been shifted up front by Pep Guardiola following Erling Haaland’s injury which, has ruled him out for the majority of the remainder of the campaign. Marmoush has found the target in both games against Leicester and Man United since moving to striker, as well as scoring the winner against Bournemouth in a short cameo.

Marmoush has had 12 shots on target across his nine Premier League appearances this season since making the move from Frankfurt in January (1.64 per 90). This record has returned five league goals for the Egyptian. He’s scored six goals in 13 appearances for Man City since making the move to the North West of England. 

Marmoush averaged 2.23 shots on target per 90 across his 17 appearances for Frankfurt in the Bundesliga prior to joining City, with the majority of these appearances coming as a striker. He should be able to raise his current average to around that mark with the service City can provide the frontman, they’re averaging 5.7 shots on target per game in the Premier League.

Eze has been fouled in each of his last six Premier League games. He’s pivotal to this Palace side and is able to draw fouls with his excellent ball carrying ability. Eze has won 42 fouls across his 26 Premier League appearances this season (1.80 per 90).


Palace are likely to be camped in their own half for periods of this game, which aids Eze when it comes to winning fouls as City will be looking to stop Palace breaking with speed. He has been fouled in eight of his last nine league matches, accumulating 14 fouls over this period.

Eze contested five duels in the initial meeting between the sides, he didn’t draw a foul on that occasion but City committed 10 fouls which is notably an increase on their foul average across the season as a whole (7.6). Palace have perfected Glasner’s system and can frustrate City as much as they did in the game at Selhurst Park, with Eze well placed to be brought down at least once here.

Man City have tumbled down the league table this season and so have a lot of their impressive metrics which allowed them to dominate the Premier League over recent seasons. One area where they haven’t collapsed is winning corners, especially at home. The control that City still have in games naturally makes it difficult for the opposition to pin them back in their own half, even when City have lost games this season, it tends to be with difficulties in managing transitions.

City are averaging 7.67 corners per game at the Etihad this season, only Tottenham are averaging more corners per game at home than City this term, and this difference is marginal (7.69). Crucially, City also aren’t conceding many corners at home, only Arsenal (2.13) are conceding fewer corners per game at home than Pep Guardiola’s side (2.67).

Palace are averaging 4.43 corners per game across their 14 trips away from Selhurst Park this season and actually utilise corners really well with each of the usual back three offering an aerial threat. However, we can expect this total to decrease slightly when looking at how good City are at preventing corners at home. We can also expect the 5.36 corners per game that Palace concede on the road to rise, not only due to City’s average at home but also due to the absence of Marc Guehi and Chris Richards, which weakens the Eagles at the back.

Man City have drawn 3+ cards from the opposition in each of their last five Premier League matches. City tend to dominate games at home even if they have dropped off from the dizzying heights of recent campaigns. Palace are averaging 10.8 fouls committed per game in the Premier League this season which is a record that has produced 59 yellow cards for the Eagles this campaign (1.96 per game).

Palace have picked up 2+ cards in four of their last five Premier League games, the exception coming against Southampton in which they were only shown one caution, but games involving Saints have essentially become training matches with the intensity of a usual Premier League game lacking. Palace will have to undertake most of the defensive work in this game and City should be able to win far more fouls than they did in the initial meeting.

Jean-Philippe Mateta has recovered from the injury he suffered in the FA Cup against Millwall and is already back to his usual goalscoring ways, finding the back of the net to open the scoring in Palace’s 2-1 win over Brighton last time out. Palace scored two goals against Man City in the initial meeting between the sides at Selhurst Park and will fancy their chances of creating opportunities here, they’ve scored in each of their last 17 games across all competitions. 

Mateta has scored 13 goals in the Premier League this season across his 29 appearances in the top flight, the majority of these have come since the turn of the year with Glasner perfecting his system as the season has unravelled to a point where Palace look like one of the most organised teams in the league. They're a constant threat on the break with Eze, Sarr and Mateta set to cause a nervy City backline some problems here.

Mateta has already scored against Aston Villa, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham this season, showing that his goal catalogue is not limited to minnows or solely the promoted sides. City are still missing big personalities at the back and could struggle to contain a confident Palace side, especially when they have opportunities to counter attack.

Munoz has been excellent for Crystal Palace this season, he’s really important to their system as a right wing back and has provided eight goal contributions across his 29 appearances in the Premier League - including scoring the winner against Brighton last time out.

As well as being really effective in the final third, Munoz can be quite rash. He’s averaging 1.50 fouls won per 90 in the Premier League this term which is a record that has returned seven yellow cards for the Colombian - only Will Hughes has received more cautions for Palace this season (10). 

Munoz will have the difficult task of being up against one of City’s excellent 1v1 dribblers. This is likely to be either Jack Grealish (2.78 fouls won per 90) or Jeremy Doku (1.91 fouls won per 90). Either player will regularly test Munoz, who should keep up his foul average and looks a nice price for a card.

Man City’s defensive issues have been well documented this season, it’s not necessarily that they are struggling to find control in games, it’s more so that City can’t keep sides penned back and limit the number of fast breaks against them. This has naturally given opposition sides more licence to take the game to City which has seen Ederson more active than we're used to.

Ederson is averaging 2.38 saves per 90 in the Premier League this season, this has risen from 1.84 saves per 90 last season. Palace have drawn 2+ saves from the opposition keeper in eight of their last 10 Premier League games and in 27 of their 30 games across the season as a whole (90%).

Only Brentford (42) have received fewer cards than Man City this season (51). This is one of the few aspects of City’s game which has stayed consistent from last campaign, no side received fewer cautions than City in the Premier League last season (52).

This is largely due to their ability to keep hold of the ball, reducing the number of fouls and challenges that they have to make. These metrics have risen slightly this season due to the issues City have had in killing off games, but they are still conservative when compared to the rest of the Premier League. 

City have drawn 3+ cards from the opposition in each of their last five Premier League games. Palace have received 2+ cards in four of their last five Premier League outings with the exception coming against Southampton. The visitors look good value to lead the card count here.