This smart punter’s SGM on Palace v City comes out at almost 3/1

Will home advantage play a role?

Roy Hodgson Pep Guardiola

Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace welcome Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to Selhurst Park on Saturday evening for their Premier League matchday nine clash. Palace are on a run of three matches undefeated in the Premier League and have gotten through the international break without any additional injuries. City lost 0-2 at home to Wolves last time out but a few top players should be returning to action here. How much will home advantage play a role here? Read on to find our three best bets.

Palace manager Hodgson had been one of the favourites to be fired at the beginning of the current campaign but the Eagles find themselves sixth in the table on 14 points after eight matches – not too shabby at all, Roy. Palace’s defence has been bastion-like: they’ve only conceded eight goals so far, one at home and seven on the road. However, while that looks good, they’ve only scored eight as well so they’re going to need to find more goals if they want to stay up there with the big boys.

Following that loss to Wolves, would you be worried if you were a Man City supporter?

Well, you’ve lost 3-2 to Norwich in what was a bonkers match and lost 0-2 to Wolves at home. But, there is an element in City that can shoot itself in the foot. Last season, City lost three Premier League matches in December and then went and won the Premier League, so we wouldn’t be worrying yet.

Sergio Aguero, despite crashing his car during the week, will play and Kevin De Bruyne will return. De Bruyne was badly missed against Wolves and England defender John Stones could make his return here too. Kyle Walker had some stomach issues during the week but should be available too.

Kevin De Bruyne

Over 3.5 Goals – EVENS

City will look to put that Wolves match behind them as quickly as they can and with the return of de Bruyne back into the team he’ll be able to link up play and get the ball quickly to either Aguero, who has eight goals in eight matches, or Raheem Sterling who has six in eight.

He was badly missed against Wolves and in his last five matches against Palace he has scored two and assisted four. Palace are worthy of a goal too and we’re expecting City to come out here and try to make a statement of intent.

Following that loss to Norwich, City beat Watford 8-0 and Everton 1-3. While another eight-nil mightn’t be on the cards, seeing City win 1-3, or 2-3 is far more likely.

Both Teams to Score – 20/23

City to win at 1/5 is pretty much exactly what you’d expect it to be, considering that in their last four meetings at Selhurst Park they’ve beaten Palace three out of four times in all competitions, finding the back of the net nine times.

As mentioned above, Palace’s scoring record isn’t great but they are good for a goal at home; they’ve scored in all but one of their Premier League matches at Selhurst Park so far this campaign and they’ve put four passed Ederson in the City goal over their previous two Premier League meetings. The 20/23 odds here are too good to ignore.

Raheem Sterling to Score Anytime – 4/5

Aguero is favourite to score anytime here against Palace at 4/7 but he’s only scored one goal against Palace in their last five meetings and only three goals in total in nine appearances.

Raheem Sterling meanwhile, has faced off against Crystal Palace 11 times in his career and has scored six times so we’re looking to him to continue his fine goal scoring record against the Eagles.

Same Game Multi Summary

A £/€1 same game multi on these three selections returns £/€3.71 including stake on paddypower.com. Odds correct at time of posting, subject to change.

Palace 11/1, Draw 11/2, City 1/5