Crystal Palace v Manchester City: In-form Eagles can buck the odds

Joe Dyer
05 April 2015

Can Pardew frustrate City?

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Alan Pardew has got off to a great start at Selhurst Park and his team can give a faltering Manchester City a tough examination on Monday night, says Joe Dyer

"I'm quite keen to side with Palace - or at least bet on City not taking all the points available - but find it tough to split the home win and the stalemate. Rather than laying City I will get involved in the Double Chance market and back Home Win/Draw @ 2.47/5."

Crystal Palace
All hail Alan Pardew! The club legend has worked wonders since taking over at Selhurst Park in January and his record after 13 games in all competitions stands at a very handsome W8, D1, L4. With a 10 point gap to the bottom three, Palace are as good as safe in the top-flight for another season and can look to enjoy the final eight games of the season.

So the home side are in good form and good spirits for this clash under the floodlights in south London, though they will again have to make do without the suspended Mile Jedinak and injured front pair Fraizer Campbell and Marouane Chamakh.

Man City
Arsenal's 4-1 thumping of Liverpool and Manchester United's 3-1 home win over Aston Villa dropped City into fourth place. There's very little danger of them going any lower - and a win would take City back to second - but it shows that Manuel Pellegrini's men have been somewhat off the pace of late thanks to defeats at Burnley and Liverpool.

Pellegrini has a fully fit squad to choose from.

Match Odds
Pardew's men are big outsiders here but the value hunters have been nibbling at Palace and from a high of 6.86/1 they are now 5.79/2 for the win. City are 1.75/7 to take the three points but given recent poor results have come on the road I'm not in a hurry to take that price. The draw is 4.1.

I'm quite keen to side with Palace - or at least bet on City not taking all the points available - but find it tough to split the home win and the stalemate. Rather than laying City I will get involved in the Double Chance market and back Home Win/Draw @ 2.47/5.

Over/Under 2.5 Goals
The market likes our chances of getting a decent serving of goals with Overs trading at 1.845/6. That seems about right to me, but isn't enough to tempt me in. This game should exceed that total - Palace haven't kept a clean sheet since a 1-0 win at Leicester in early February while City haven't kept one on the road since getting the same result at the King Power Stadium in mid-December. Rather than taking 1.845/6 on Overs I prefer the 1.824/5 on Both Teams To Score.

To Score
Michael Lintorn makes a very good case for backing Glenn Murray here, and if Palace are to score it should be their in-form striker doing so. The market on the Exchange is lacking liquidity but you can get 3.613/5 on the Sportsbook. Wilfried Zaha is another Palace player in form with a goal in each of his last two games. He can be backed at 4.67/2 to score.

Recommended Bet
Back Home Win/Draw in the Double Chance market @ 2.47/5