Crystal Palace Vs Manchester City: Guardiola Reminds Not To Be Careless

Pillar Manchester City striker Erling Haaland and midfielder Kevin De Bruyne will still be played against Crystal Palace. (X/@EmierratesFACup)

JAKARTA - Manchester City will still be seeded when they visit Crystal Palace in the English Premier League match at Selhurst Park Stadium. The match was held on Saturday, April 6, 2024 during the launchtime local time or at 18.30 pm WIB.

Guardiola warned his players not to distract from the Premier League. Because Man City will be 'almost impossible' to defend the title if they lose points in the last seven games.

Tight competition makes Man City unable to relax. Moreover, The Cityzens are still stuck in third place. With 67 points, they are still three points behind Liverpool who are at the top of the standings.

Meanwhile, Arsenal, who are in second place, have 68 points. With very close points, the three teams still have the chance to win the league title.

Man City has the opportunity to put pressure on their two competitors if they win the match against Palace. The reason is that the match was held earlier so that Man City could change positions in the standings.

If they win, Kevin De Bruyne et al will move up to second place and match Liverpool's points. However, they still lost the goal difference so they could not win the top position.

However, that position will change again if Arsenal win against Brighton and Hove Albion in Saturday's match at 23.30 p.m. local time. Meanwhile, Liverpool stopped Manchester United in a duel at Old Trafford, Sunday, April 7, 2024.

Guardiola also hopes that MU, who is often ridiculed by him, will help Man City by defeating Liverpool. Likewise Brighton can stop Arsenal.

"I hope that happens. But it's useless if we don't finish our job [by winning the game]," he said.

The problem is, Man City faces a game on a busy schedule. After facing Palace, they played an away game in the Champions League quarter-finals against Real Madrid. Wednesday 10 April 2024 in the morning WIB. "We won treble last season. When we reached the Champions League semifinals, we had won Premier Legue. Honestly, if we were currently 18 points ahead in the Premier League, of course I would focus on the match against Madrid," said Guardiola.

"But the situation is not so. We are in third place. We are not far from the top of the league but if we lose points, then it is almost impossible [to win the league]. So we have to win this game," he said.

Guardiola made sure he wanted to win the league again for the fourth time in a row. If that is achieved, Man City will be the first club to ever do so. Currently, Man City has matched the MU record, which has won the league three times in a row.

"I do like it [to become the Premier League champion]," said Guardiola. "For me a domestic trophy, that's the most important thing, whether it's the Premier League or La Liga [Spain]. But I don't say the Champions League is not important," said the former Barcelona coach again.

"It's just that, we face a difficult situation. We play two or three games every week," he said.

In the match against Palace, two defenders Nathan Ake and Kyle Walker will miss. But goalkeeper Ederson was able to play again after recovering from injury.

Although Stefan Ortega was able to do well and conceded only one goal, Guardiola may again rely on Ederson.

Moreover, Man City will face Madrid so that Ederson can warm up the match against Palace.

Guadiola also considered not playing Erling Haaland and De Bruyne in the match.

Thus they can focus on facing Madrid. But Guardiola will field them as starters even though they may not play full.

He also felt unfair because Man City played a match on a busy schedule. After facing Madrid, they have been waiting for Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinals for Saturday's match.

However, Man City is still seeded in the match against Palace which only dwells on the middle board. Moreover, Man City has only lost six points from 13 matches without losing in the Premier League.

Forecast Of Circtal Palace Players (3-4-3): Henderson; Ward, Andersen, Lerma; Munoz, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell; Ayew, Mateta, Eze

Manchester City (4-1-4-1): Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri; Bernardo, De Bruyne, Foden, Doku; Haaland