Crystal Palace vs Manchester City Prediction: City to prevail in goalfest

Crystal Palace and Manchester City will lock horns in Saturday's FA Cup final (16:30, live on BBC One) in what is one of the biggest days in the football calendar.

Palace are aiming to end their 120-year wait for a trophy while City are hoping to right their wrong from last year when they finished runners-up to Manchester United. Read on for my Crystal Palace vs Manchester City predictions, match odds and the latest team news.

Football Odds

Team News

Crystal Palace are currently monitoring the fitness of Adam Wharton, who missed last weekend's win over Tottenham Hotspur, while Cheick Doucoure and Chadi Riad remain long-term absentees.

Jean-Philippe Mateta is expected to lead the line after scoring 17 goals for Palace this term, and will be supported in attack by Eberechi Eze, who has five goals in his last four games.

Ismaila Sarr will be hoping to retain his place in starting XI after netting in Palace's semi-final triumph over Aston Villa, while ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson will start between the sticks.

As for City, they will once again be without Rodri, Nathan Ake, Oscar Bobb and John Stones, who all continue to recover from their respective injuries.

Erling Haaland looks set to lead the line after missing the last few months of action with an ankle injury. Kevin De Bruyne will be eager to start what will be his final FA Cup appearance for City and the Belgian has been involved in four goals in his previous three finals.

Jeremy Doku, James McAtee and Phil Foden will battle it out to decide who occupies the flanks on Saturday, while Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Mateo Kovacic and Nico Gonzalez will compete for a spot in the engine room alongside De Bruyne.

Crystal Palace vs Manchester City Odds

Palace are 7/2 to win in 90 minutes, the draw is 11/4 and City are 4/5, giving them an implied win probability of 55.6%. Palace are 19/10 to win the tie, whereas Pep Guardiola's men are odds-on at 2/5.

Haaland currently leads the anytime goalscorer market at 1/1, while Mateta is the shortest price for the Eagles at 15/8.

Kevin De Bruyne to score anytime @ 7/2

As mentioned above, Saturday's final marks De Bruyne's final FA Cup appearance in a City shirt after a decade of service, and the Belgian will be determined to help his side win one last trophy before his departure.

The 33-year-old has two goals and one assist in six games since announcing he would be moving on when his contract expires, and he has previous experience of delivering on the big stage, as he scored in the 2019 FA Cup final against Watford.

I'm backing De Bruyne to go out on a high here and score anytime for Guardiola's side.

Manchester City to win and both teams to score @ 23/10

City are the favourites in terms of 90-minute betting and to win the tie, but both prices are too short for me, so I'm opting for the Citizens to win and both teams to get on the scoresheet.

Guardiola will be determined to go one better after losing to Manchester United in last year's final and ultimately, City’s experience of winning titles and the quality they have throughout their squad gives them a clear advantage here in my opinion.

Cup finals can at times be cagey affairs but each of the last three finals involving City have all produced at least three goals in total.

Each of the last four meetings between these sides has produced at least four goals and both of these teams have scored at least twice on each occasion. In fact, City came from 2-0 down to beat Palace 5-2 in their most recent meeting between the sides at the Etihad Stadium in April, and the reverse fixture at Selhurst Park finished 2-2.

Both sides carry plenty of attacking threat, and I can see Saturday's contest being a goalfest.

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