Etihad fixture: Manchester City need three points against Palace

The Citizens host Crystal Palace in the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium. Manchester City need all three points if Pep Guardiola's players are to qualify for next season's Champions League. Crystal Palace, meanwhile, have all but secured their Premier League status for the following season, so the pressure is off the Eagles. Even so, Sam Allardyce is expected to field his strongest available side against City and will not treat the game lightly.

Manchester City are unbeaten in 12 consecutive home matches in all competitions. The Eagles, for their part, have failed to score only once in their last six Premier League games and have won four of them. Two of those wins came against Chelsea and Liverpool, which shows what the Eagles are capable of on their day.

City hold the advantage in the head-to-head record. Guardiola's club have won 29 meetings, Palace 15, and 12 have been drawn. Sixteen of City's 29 wins came at home, while Palace have won only five away games in the fixture.

Man City have been dominant against Crystal Palace recently, winning 12 of the last 13 meetings. This will be the third match between the sides in the 2016/17 season. Manchester City recorded two victories at Selhurst Park earlier in the campaign, one in the Premier League and one in the FA Cup.

David Silva and John Stones are expected to return against Crystal Palace. Sergio Agüero will also be in the squad: the Argentine picked up a groin injury against Middlesbrough but is now fit. Claudio Bravo will miss the match, so Caballero will start in goal for City.

Sam Allardyce has a lot of injury problems to deal with before the trip to Manchester, and the absence of key defenders is felt most. Mamadou Sakho, James Tomkins and Scott Dann are all sidelined, and Connor Wickham is also missing for Crystal Palace. Yohan Cabaye will probably be fit to face Manchester City.

Palace in form

The two results that underlined the threat from Palace both came away from home. On 1 April 2017 the Eagles won 2-1 at Stamford Bridge: Cesc Fàbregas gave Chelsea a fifth-minute lead, Wilfried Zaha equalised and Christian Benteke scored the winner after 11 minutes. On 23 April 2017 Palace won 2-1 at Anfield, where Benteke scored both goals after Philippe Coutinho had put Liverpool ahead.

How the match finished

The game was played at the Etihad Stadium on 6 May 2017 in front of 54,119 spectators, and Manchester City won 5-0. David Silva, back in the side, opened the scoring after 114 seconds. Vincent Kompany doubled the lead four minutes into the second half from Kevin De Bruyne's cutback, De Bruyne added a goal of his own, Raheem Sterling made it 4-0 from Pablo Zabaleta's headed pass across goal, and Nicolás Otamendi headed in a De Bruyne free-kick in stoppage time. De Bruyne finished with a goal and two assists, and the win lifted City to third in the table.

The end of the season

City finished the 2016/17 Premier League in third place with 78 points from 23 wins, nine draws and six defeats, scoring 80 goals and conceding 39. That secured the Champions League place the Palace game had been about. Guardiola's first campaign in England nevertheless ended without silverware: City went out of the FA Cup in the semi-finals, the League Cup in the fourth round and the Champions League in the round of 16.

Crystal Palace finished 14th. Sam Allardyce had taken over from Alan Pardew in December 2016, with the club only one point above the relegation zone, and won eight of his 21 games in charge to keep the Eagles up. On 23 May 2017, about five months after his arrival, he resigned after a meeting with chairman Steve Parish, saying that he wanted to step away from management and that the decision was about his family and himself rather than transfers or finances.