An upset is unlikely but both Palace and Man City will score
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In a mirror image of last season, Crystal Palace have surged to Premier League safety thanks to an ingenious late-season switch in the dugout. Now with local hero Alan Pardew in charge, the Eagles will expect greater security in the future.
According to their new boss, Palace could be considered top-10 fancies after a couple of additions in the summer months, and their recent record under the former Newcastle boss backs that theory up.
Since taking over in early January, the Selhurst Park side have enjoyed Premier League wins over those below them, with the odd surprise, namely the come-from-behind victory over Spurs, thrown in.
When it has come to facing the bigger boys, the Lilywhites aside, things haven’t gone quite so smoothly.
Everton, Arsenal and Southampton have all dealt Pardew Premier League defeats since he returned home, while Liverpool ended their hoodoo with the Londoners in the FA Cup.
With Manchester City arriving to face the Eagles on Monday night, it’s hard to look at the 4/1 about a Palace victory as anything other than a price too short.
Manuel Pellegrini’s men aren’t exactly in flying form either though, with recent away losses to Liverpool and Burnley blotching their copy book, so avoiding the 7/10 on them to triumph is also advised.
Instead, it’s the 3/4 on both teams scoring which catches the eye.
It’s a bet that has landed in nine of Pardew’s 13 games in charge of Palace, including both of the last two and all of the previous four at Selhurst Park.
The Eagles have only kept two clean sheets under the grey-haired tactician’s watch, with one of those coming against Dover in the FA Cup. It’s expected that the wide variety of attacking trinkets Man City can call on should breach the host’s flimsy defences.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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