Manchester City are starting to get some key players back and it’s not a moment too soon. Sitting in second place, eight points behind Liverpool after the first eight games, they need to start making up ground on the Reds. Up next is a Saturday league fixture at Crystal Palace. The reigning Premier League back-to-back champions saw midfielder Kevin De Bruyne and centre back John Stones return to training this week.
Getting Stones back will help ease the severe issues that manager Pep Guardiola has had to deal with in central defense. De Bruyne will help take City’s biggest strength, scoring goals, up another notch.
Leroy Sane and Aymeric Laporte remain long term injury absentees with knee injuries while defender Benjamin Mendy is a doubt, due to a hamstring problem. Sensational striker Sergio Aguero, currently tied for the league lead in scoring, had a car accident at training this week. Although his luxury automobile was wrecked pretty bad, he was totally unscathed and trained as normal.
Let’s take a look at who Guardiola might select for his first XI against an Eagles side that is off to a surprisingly good start. Palace currently sit sixth in the table.
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction at Crystal Palace
Raheem Sterling Sergio Aguero Riyad Mahrez
Kevin De Bruyne Ilkay Gundogan David Silva
Oleksandr Zinchenko Nicolas Otamendi John Stones Joao Cancelo
Ederson
Manchester City at Crystal Palace FYIs
Kickoff: Oct. 19, 5:30pm Selhurst Park
Pep Guardiola press conference video: coming tomorrow
Form Guide: Manchester City- LWWLW Crystal Palace- WWDLW
Google’s result probability: 78% Manchester City win, 14% draw, 3% Crystal Palace victory
Prediction: Manchester City 2, Crystal Palace 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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