Manchester City vs Crystal Palace prediction 16.12.2023

• Competition: Premier League
• Date: Saturday, 16th December 2023
• Kickoff: 15:00 UK / 16:00 CET
• Venue: Etihad Stadium (Manchester)

Manchester City have been a dominant force in England for several years, but the previous one was truly historic since they won a continental treble, becoming only the eighth club in Europe to do so. This year, the expectations for the Citizens are again the same - to win it all, especially considering they further improved the squad over the Summer. However, something is off this year, and they are slightly below their expected level. Right now, they are 4th on the league's table with 33 points in 16 rounds, still only four points away from the 1st-placed Liverpool. Now, they will have a bit easier schedule, and we can expect a good run from them. On the other hand, City easily secured the knockout phase in the Champions League, but to be fair, it was a really easy group. 

Crystal Palace are playing its 11th consecutive season in the Premier League, and even though they were mostly in the lower part of the league's table, the Eagles were not close to being relegated. This year, they had an OK start, but with only one point in the last five games, the Eagles dropped to 15th place. Still, they are seven points away from the danger zone, and the general impression is that Crystal Palace are underperforming, and we do not expect them to get involved in the relegation battle. 

Manchester City vs Crystal Palace pick: Both teams to score

With 38 goals scored in 16 rounds, Manchester City is the best offensive team in the Premier League, and at Etihad Stadium, it is almost impossible to expect them to fail to score. If we take a closer look at their recent home games, they were incredible offensively, scoring 16 goals in the last five games - 3.2 per game. For this game, they will miss their two key offensive players, Haaland and de Bryine, but we are not really worried about their ability to score at home. On the other hand, the defense has been terrible by their standards, and they haven't had a clean sheet in the previous seven games in all competitions!

Crystal Palace are in terrible form, but they are scoring goals quite regularly despite that poor form. In the last seven games, the Eagles won just four points but managed to score at least once on six occasions, so we think they could score against Manchester City, which had some defensive problems in recent games. 

In the previous h2h game at Etihad Stadium, we have seen a 4:2 win for Manchester City. Considering everything above, we believe that both teams to score is the best option for this tie.