With the current state of affairs at Crystal Palace, this is probably a game they could be quite happy to do without. Palace are struggling in the league and seem to have experienced no “new manager bounce” after the introduction of ex-England manager Sam Allardyce. It doesn’t help that their best player Wilfried Zaha has been away at the African Cup of Nations but even his participation may not have been enough to turn things their way.
Some Manchester City fans could also be looking at this competition and see it as a distraction from their league hopes. To be fair the chances of Manchester City winning the league look fairly slim now but Top 4 is still very achievable and should be their primary aim. Pep Guardiola is not someone to overlook a competition though. He’s rotated players for these competitions but generally he’s done very well in them and picked up more than his fair share of trophies during his time at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. An FA Cup win in his first season would go down a treat with the fans (and the media) and combining that with Champions League qualification would probably see his first season termed a success.
After looking at the team that Pep Guardiola put out in his last game in the FA Cup (against West Ham) I think we’ll see a full strength side being put out for this one. With the importance of league survival for Crystal Palace, I don’t think they’ll be taking the same risk.
Seeing as Manchester City have the best side statistically as well as being boosted by a more than credible draw with Spurs last weekend, this game is theirs for the taking.
At 1.57 for an away win with William Hill there would be some justification for going for a straight match odds bet. Manchester City have won 9 out of the last 10 meetings between these two, including a 2-1 away win back in November 2016 with Yaya Touré getting on the scoresheet twice.
1.57 is ok but I really think we can do better. I’m not going to advocate betting on Both Teams To Score, Claudio Bravo might have let in all of the last 6 shots on target he’s faced but he’s a better goalkeeper than the media will have you believe and somehow I don’t think Palace will be playing Christian Benteke in this one (nor his younger brother Jonathan as he’s injured). If City can maintain the kind of performance they showed against Spurs then they will score a few goals in this one so I’m going for an Asian Handicap bet of Manchester City -1 which is available at odds of 1.99 with Pinnacle.
I’ll be tuning into this one in the hope of seeing more of Gabriel Jesus who looks a very good player, I also want to keep an eye on how the game goes as I like to see my money working for me.
As always, be sure to compare to find the best odds for you, and always bet on any of our green listed boomakers.
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