Despite securing an impressive victory at home to Newcastle United at the weekend, Manchester City know that it will mean very little if they don't follow it up with a good showing away at Crystal Palace. With Premier League title rivals Arsenal away at Fulham at the weekend, both clubs will be conscious of dropping points.
Pep Guardiola's men were brilliant against the Magpies and stretched their unbeaten run to seven matches. For a brief period of time, it appeared the Gunners would be dropping points at home to Bournemouth, but Mikel Arteta's men, to their credit, did what potential champions do and turned things around.
City did their job and they can, of course, only focus on themselves. Yet, they would certainly have benefitted from the London outfit dropping points. Instead, the title race continues with Arsenal boasting a five-point lead.
ALSO READ: Man City chairman leads tributes to Mike Summerbee as club legend gets OBE
For the Blues, their next clash is a challenging one - against a team who have caused them issues in recent seasons.
In their 10 matches against Palace, City have *only* won five times. Guardiola's side, admittedly, have only lost on two occasions, but games against the Eagles have proven tricky. The Blues' troubles against the London club have mainly come at home, with both of their victories coming at the Etihad. However, Selhurst Park is one of the more difficult grounds to visit - even if City have thrived there previously.
When Guardiola's men drew 0-0 with Palace last season, they played without a striker. Phil Foden, despite impressing in that role last term, struggled to impact the game from that position. The England international found it difficult to influence the clash as he is so used to doing and it was, for many people, the perfect example as to why the Blues needed to sign a striker last summer.
The visitors dominated possession and looked like the only side that were ever going to score, but they simply lacked the killer instinct on that day.
Prior to last campaign, City hadn't experienced such troubles in their trips to Selhurst Park. During the 2020/21 season, Guardiola's men won 2-0, with Sergio Aguero opening the scoring. It was a comfortable day's work for the Blues and they benefitted from the Argentine's desire to frequently get into goalscoring positions - something that Foden lacked last term.
In the 2019/20 campaign, it was a similar story, albeit with a different striker getting on the scoresheet. Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring as City went on to win 2-0.
Clearly, City's ability to beat Palace is not solely down to whether or not they have a striker on the pitch, but the evidence is there to show that they have benefitted from it.
When City come up against Palace at Selhurst Park this season, they are certainly going to play with a frontman. Not only that, but they will arrive in London with a forward who has registered 33 goals and five assists in 34 matches in all competitions. Erling Haaland will be relishing taking on the Eagles this weekend, especially after scoring a hat-trick against them earlier this term.
There has been a lot of talk about whether or not the Norwegian ace makes City a better team, but the 22-year-old has already demonstrated - on several occasions - that he can be the difference between the Blues getting three points, rather than one.
In each of the four games that City have lost in the Premier League this season, Haaland has not scored. It shows his importance to the team, and for Guardiola, it proves that he was right to wait for the right man to add to his ranks.
The Blues can't really afford to drop points if they want to maintain pace with Arsenal and eventually overtake the Gunners, and after drawing with Palace at Selhurst Park last season, they once again have a striker who can make the difference.
READ NEXT:
