Manchester City vs Crystal Palace Premier League Live Football Score 1 May 2021
Manchester City could be celebrating Premier League title glory by the close of play this weekend, assuming they can get the better of Crystal Palace in Saturday lunchtime’s kickoff.
The hosts will have had five days to recover from their 2-1 defeat at the hands of Leicester City on Monday night, while Man City overcame Paris Saint-Germain by the same scoreline in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final in midweek. Crystal Palace looked capable of springing a surprise at the home of top-four contenders Leicester last time out, as a 12th-minute Wilfried Zaha goal propelled Roy Hodgson’s men into the ascendancy after a swift counter-attack.
Despite boasting a 1-0 lead as the half-time whistle blew, Palace soon fell victim to two almost identical goals from Timothy Castagne and Kelechi Iheanacho, as both men produced left-footed thunderbolts to complete the Foxes comeback and leave Palace’s top-10 hopes in jeopardy. Even though the 13th-placed Eagles are not mathematically safe just yet, they are 11 clear of the dropzone with a game in hand on the bottom three, so their Premier League status is all but assured and Hodgson will simply want his players to give a good account of themselves before the season concludes.
However, Palace can boast just one win from their last seven Premier League matches, and having faced Everton, Chelsea and Leicester in recent weeks, the fixtures do not get any easier after Man City pay a visit, as Arsenal and Liverpool lie in wait in the final two weekends of the campaign. While the Eagles have managed to keep three clean sheets in their last four home matches, only West Bromwich Albion (33) and Newcastle United (27) have conceded more goals on familiar territory than Palace (25) this season, so City can certainly aspire to replicate Liverpool’s seven-goal showing as they attempt to prise the title off the Reds.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
- Crystal Palace have lost 13 of the past 17 Premier League meetings, failing to score on 10 occasions (W2, D2).
- Manchester City’s most recent defeat at Selhurst Park was by 2-1 on 6 April 2015.
- They are unbeaten in their subsequent six matches there, including five Premier League fixtures (W5, D1).
Crystal Palace
- The Eagles could lose three consecutive league games for the first time this season – this is the sixth occasion they have suffered back-to-back top-flight defeats in the current campaign.
- Crystal Palace have won just two of their 23 Premier League matches against sides at the top of the table (D4, L17), with both of those victories coming against Chelsea.
- Roy Hodgson’s side have conceded 25 top-flight home goals this season, a total exceeded only by Newcastle and West Brom.
- Hodgson has never won a Premier League home game against Manchester City as a manager (D3, L3), though he has won three away fixtures against them.
- Wilfried Zaha’s total of 10 league goals equals his highest figure in a single season, set in 2018-19.
- Zaha has failed to score in all 12 of his league and cup appearances against Manchester City.
Manchester City
- Manchester City have scored a league-high 32 goals away from home this season.
- They have won 10 Premier League away matches in a row, scoring 26 goals and conceding just four.
- In all competitions, they have won 18 successive away fixtures (this excludes cup ties at Wembley, since it is a neutral venue).
- Raheem Sterling has scored six goals in his past seven league starts against Crystal Palace.
- Gabriel Jesus has 49 goals in 126 Premier League appearances. He could become just the second Brazilian to reach 50 in the competition, emulating Roberto Firmino.
