Palace v Manchester City

Selhurst Park, Sunday 2.05pm

James Tomkins

Team news

Crystal Palace centre half James Tomkins will sit out the rest of the season with a groin injury sustained during last week's win at Newcastle. Fellow central defender Mamadou Sakho is still recovering from his knee problem, which means back-up defenders Scott Dann and Martin Kelly will take their places.

Manchester City's Bernardo Silva faces a fitness test after on a thigh strain, along with Oleksandr Zinchenko (hamstring). Left-back Benjamin Mendy, Kevin de Bruyne and Leroy Sane are set for returns to the side.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"Well we can [beat them]. Of course we can. No team is unbeatable and no team poses a threat that you can't possibly deal with but everyone understands how good they are.

"It will be a test and big task for the players. We kept a clean sheet against them a year ago and we're hopeful of doing the same on Sunday.

"We lost Tomkins in the game against Newcastle, he has been operated on, so he will miss the remainder of the season which is a major blow, coming on top of Sakho's injury five or six games ago.

"Those two have been such important pillars in the centre of our defence and helped us get where we are. It is a big ask for Scott Dann and Martin Kelly, they're going to have to step into some quite big shoes but I am confident that they can do that, and they will get their first chance on Sunday."

Pep Guardiola

"They’ve done so well, 11 points clear, they’ve had incredible results,, quality players, one of the teams with the best quality, Roy Hodgson is an experienced manager with a lot of different countries, he knows how to handle these situations. Nobody felt he could stay up last season and he did it, and he’s doing the same this season."

Manchester City - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
2nd	32	26	2	4	80

Full league table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
22/12/2018	League	Manchester City	2 - 3	Crystal Palace
31/12/2017	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 0	Manchester City
23/09/2017	League	Manchester City	5 - 0	Crystal Palace
06/05/2017	League	Manchester City	5 - 0	Crystal Palace
28/01/2017	FA Cup	Crystal Palace	0 - 3	Manchester City

All time results

Last meeting

Manchester City 2-3 Palace

Saturday December 22 2018

Manchester City: Ederson, Delph (De Bruyne, 62), Walker, Laporte, Otamendi (Aguero, 50), Gundogan, Silva, Stones, Sterling (Mahrez, 69), Sane, Jesus

Subs not used: Danilo, Muric, Zinchenko, Foden

Goals: Gündogan (27), De Bruyne (85)

Palace: Guaita, van Aanholt, Tomkins, Wan-Bissaka, Sakho, J McArthur, Milivojevic, Schlupp, Meyer (Puncheon, 89), Townsend, Zaha (Ayew, 88)

Subs not used: Sorloth, Dann, Riedewald, Ward, Speroni

Goals: Schlupp (33), Townsend (35), Milivojevic (51, pen)

Bookings: Guaita, van Aanholt, McArthur, Zaha