- Crystal Palace have won three and lost two of their last five matches, failing to win in the last two head-to-head meetings at home.
- Manchester City are unbeaten in three away matches in all competitions (W1, D2) and have scored seven goals on the road in that time.
- Crystal Palace have scored 11 goals in their last four home matches across all competitions.
City will feel Palace’s pace
Crystal Palace's new manager Pierre Sage has only been in charge since 1 July 2026, but his new-look Eagles are looking good on the wing-back game and are capable of making plenty of runs in behind.
Sage has retained the back three structure but has given the team a better edge in transition with his own identity, so this should be a fascinating match against Enzo Maresca's Manchester City on Friday. The Citizens have only been under his control since 1 July 2026 and are clearly still bedding in.
City, who are 13/20 favourites, saw Maresca's patient, possession style of football kick off with a 3-1 away win over the K League All Stars before a 3-1 home victory against Atletico Madrid, but fell 3-0 to Arsenal in the Community Shield.
Eagles have a strong home record
Palace's record across their first five matches under Sage is 3-0-2, so the Eagles are in decent nick heading into this fixture with the Citizens. They started with a 3-1 home win over Al-Ula, followed it up with a 2-1 road win over Fulham and were then beaten 3-0 by SC Freiburg after extra time.
The hosts have won two of their four home games across all competitions (W2, D1, L1), so Selhurst Park is proving to be a solid platform for them. The last time these two sides met was in the Premier League 2025/2026 season, when City won 3-0 at their place, so the hosts will be desperate for a result.
Maresca’s men to take a share
A City win looks the sharpest bet here, but the fact that Palace have netted 11 times in their last four at home makes this anything but a walk in the park. It also tells you that City will have to be in good nick to avoid an upset.
Maresca's build-up style and inverted full-backs are designed to pin the opponent back and create central overloads to unlock the defense, while Sage's wing-backs and flanks will look to stretch the field and punish sloppy defending from set-pieces.
The visitors will try to control the tempo and dictate the match rhythm while Palace will want to get forward and attack the flanks. That contrast should produce a game of chess that will be tough to call, so we're going with the two results that fit the teams' head-to-head and recent scoring numbers.
City are 3-1-1 up in the last five head-to-head matches so they will expect to grab the three points, but with Palace averaging 2.75 home goals in their last four we think it could be a live game. We're taking the City win at 13/20 as our main selection, but over 2.5 goals will cover both teams in this early-season test of styles.
