Crystal Palace vs Man City prediction, expected line-ups, how to watch and stats
We’ve picked out our best betting tips as Crystal Palace look to make history by beating Man City on Saturday afternoon in the FA Cup final at Wembley.
This is Palace’s third crack at lifting the trophy, their first since 2016, and while they’ll head to Wembley as serious underdogs, they’ve got something far more valuable than odds on their side – absolute vibes.
On the other hand, City’s vibe can be less generational force under the world’s best manager these days and more angry Dad refusing to accept his son’s third division Sunday morning team are sh*t.
Oliver Glasner’s side is unbeaten in five, full of energy, and playing the kind of football that makes you forget that Palace’s natural habitat is 15th in the table.
They’ve put three past both Aston Villa and Fulham to get here and look like a team enjoying themselves, which is not a sentence often heard in late-season cup previews.
They’ve also scored at least twice in each of their last four meetings with City, and while they’ve still come off second best in most of those, they’ve shown they can cause real problems.
The question isn’t whether Palace can land a punch, because we know they can, but whether they can stay on their feet long enough to make it count against a City side that’s slowly regaining momentum.
Crystal Palace vs Man City prediction
Palace are unbeaten in five while City are winless in two, and struggling to find their rhythm in front of the goal, despite the return of Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian was quiet again last weekend, managing just one shot in a frustrating draw at Southampton, a game where City dominated the ball but failed to create much of substance.
No one will argue that City are the much better team on paper, yet their recent return to form may be skewing the odds in their favour here.
Sure, they’re unbeaten in 10, winners of four of their past five, and in contention for a second-place finish in the league.
On the other hand, the league is crap this season, and making them 7/10 to beat one of the country’s form teams in the biggest game in their recent history feels like paying big team tax in the betting market.
We’ll back both teams to score as it’s landed in each of the last four meetings between these two, and we’ll also take a swing on the Eagles avoiding defeat inside normal time
Crystal Palace team news
Chadi Riad, Cheick Doucoure and Adam Wharton are all expected to miss out through injury.
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That opens the door for Will Hughes and Jefferson Lerma to continue their partnership in the heart of the midfield.
Chris Richards, Maxence Lacroix and Marc Guehi will form a back three again, flanked by Daniel Munoz and Tyrick Mitchell.
Ismaila Sarr and Eberechi Eze should start behind Jean-Philippe Mateta, with Dean Henderson back in goal.
Crystal Palace expected line-up
Henderson – Richards, Lacroix, Guehi – Munoz, Lerma, Hughes, Mitchell – Eze, Sarr – Mateta
Man City team news
Nathan Ake is out, while John Stones and Oscar Bobb are unlikely to recover in time.
Guardiola made changes against Southampton, but they felt like taking the opportunity to give players like Rico Lewis more minutes.
We think he will revert to his favoured back four on Saturday, comprising Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Joskvo Gvardiol and Nico O’Reilly.
Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic are the midfielders of choice without Rodri.
People rarely predict Guardiola’s attacking ideas, but Phil Foden on the right, Omar Marmoush on the left, and Kevin De Bruyne supporting Erling Haaland make sense to us.
Man City expected line-up
Ederson – Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly – Silva, Kovacic – Foden, De Bruyne, Marmoush – Haaland
Crystal Palace vs Man City: How to watch and listen
The 2025 FA Cup Final will be shown live on BBC One, ITV1, STV and all respective streaming platforms from 4:30pm on Saturday, May 17.
Crystal Palace vs Man City stats
– Palace are unbeaten in their last five matches (W3 D2), keeping three clean sheets and scoring eight goals.
– Palace have scored at least twice in each of their last four meetings with Man City and six of eight.
– City are unbeaten in their last 10 matches in all competitions (W8 D2), but have failed to win on 25 occasions across all competitions, including against Palace.
– Both teams have scored in each of the last four head-to-heads.
– Man City are unbeaten in their last seven against Palace (W4 D3), but conceded multiple goals in three of those.
– Palace have conceded just once in five FA Cup matches this season, scoring 12.
– Man City have won the FA Cup seven times, while Palace are still looking for their first major trophy.
– Kevin De Bruyne has 16 goal involvements in 19 career games against Palace.
– Jean-Philippe Mateta has 17 goals and four assists in all competitions this season.
– Crystal Palace’s last four FA Cup wins have all come without conceding a goal.