The second round of matches in the new English Premier League season gets underway on Friday night when Crystal Palace take Manchester City at Selhurst Park
Palace
Palace opened their season at Everton last week and they went down 2-0, conceding goals either side of half time. They had opportunities in the first half and hit the woodwork twice but were less threatening after the break. Ismaila Sarr, who has been the subject of transfer speculation is out injured whilst defender Axel Disasi has joined on loan from Chelsea and could feature with Chadi Riad picking up an injury at Everton last week. This will b a first home game for new coach Pierre Sage
Man City
City also have a new coach in Enzo Maresca and his first EPL game in charge saw his side come from behind with late goals in a 2-1 home win over Bournemouth. City were 1-0 down on 26 minutes and had to wait until the 84th for a goal with Marc Guehi equalizing before Josko Gvardiol found a winner on 91 minutes. Erling Haaland missed all 5 of the chances that came his way. It was far from perfect but a step up on the display City put in when losing the Community shield 3-0 to Arsenal a week earlier.
This week City’s busy transfer window continued with Ayyoub Bouaddi joining from Lille for £85.6m, Savio went to Spurs for a similar fee and Nico Ganzalez joined Newcastle for £50m. Enzo Fernades is still linked with a move from Chelsea whilst Marmoush could leave for Spurs, possibly on loan.
The Betting
Palace are trading at 7/2 with the draw at 14/5 and Man City can be backed at around 6/10
A game of 3 goals or more is 13/20 and it’s 7/10 for both teams to score.
Verdict:
Marc Guehi returns to his old club with City and after getting himself on the scoresheet last week I can see him troubling the Palace keeper this week.
Bet: Shots on target Marc Guehi 1 or more at 18/10 with Sportingbet
Prices are subject to change