Manchester city - Crystal Palace preview

Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock insists he
has no fear of facing a Manchester City side
which has hit its stride in recent weeks.
City is on a seven-match winning run in all
competitions and could pull level with Premier
League leader Chelsea with victory over Palace on
Saturday.
Palace, meanwhile, has just one win from its last
10 top-flight matches, and Warnock knows his
side will need to be at its best to stand a chance of
picking up a positive result this weekend.
"They are just hitting their form," he said. "It is
always difficult to go to the Etihad - they play some
wonderful football, but we have been playing well,
so we do not go there with any fear. But we realize
we have got to be on top of our game to come
away with anything. We know our goalkeeper and
our back four have got to play well and we have
got to create chances.
"We have got to know what we are doing and be
on top of our game - we have done that well
recently but we step it up another gear now. We did
well at Swansea (1-1) and Tottenham (0-0), but
now this is another challenge. We are going to the
most difficult place, along with Stamford Bridge, so
it is a good challenge for us."
Warnock will take a modicum of comfort from the
fact City currently has a host of strikers sidelined.
Sergio Aguero (knee), Edin Dzeko (calf) and Stevan
Jovetic (muscle) are all unlikely to return before
the end of the year, with 18-year-old Jose Angel
Pozo having stepped into the side for a 1-0 win at
Leicester City last time out.
However, Warnock has laughed off talk of an injury
crisis, stressing City has the strength in depth to
cope with the absences.
"Aguero is as good as anything, him and [Chelsea
striker] Diego Costa are probably the best two in
the Premier League," he added. "But if they wanted
to give me Samir Nasri and David Silva I would
take them tomorrow.
"I think they are as good as anybody in the
country, those two. The difference between the top
clubs and everyone at the bottom end is that every
player in the 25 is a top international player who
can play in several positions."
Palace, which has not won at City since 1990, will
be without Marouane Chamakh, ruled out with a
hamstring problem, while Adrian Mariappa
has returned to training after a knee injury.
In addition to Aguero, Dzeko and Jovetic, captain
Vincent Kompany (hamstring) is expected to miss..
source:goal.com

out for City.