With no European football to distract them, City know the competition offers a perfect opportunity to end a trophy drought that stretches back to 1976.
So even the likes of Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor might find themselves involved in a competition they normally pass on, although Carlos Tevez was part of the Manchester United side that won the competition last March.
Kick-off at Selhurst Park is at 8pm.
Man City (from): Given, Zabaleta, Dunne, Toure, Ben Haim, Onuoha, Bridge, De Jong, Barry, Ireland, Wright-Phillips, Weiss, Robinho, Adebayor, Bellamy, Tevez, Richards, Garrido, Etuhu, Vidal, McGivern, Petrov, Benjani, Taylor.
