Predictions v Crystal Palace – 14.12.2025

After a ropey start for us following the last international break, a victory this afternoon (2:00pm KO GMT) would make it 5 wins from 5.

Following the last one on my previous post, there’s another blog announcement at the end of this piece.

v Crystal Palace

Selhurst Park

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game which, for me blog wise, was our home victory against Sunderland: 11/11 .

Will it be a third game on the trot with the same starting 11?

A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-6-1):

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

__Doku_________________________________Cherki__

 

_________Silva(C)_________________Foden__________

 

____________________Gonzalez___________________

O’Reilly___________________________________Nunes

__________Gvardiol______________Dias(VC)__________

 

 

__________________Donnarumma_________________

Subs: Trafford, Ait-Nouri, Lewis, Ake, Khusanov, Reijnders, Bobb, Savinho and Marmoush.

Yep, that’s what I’m going with. So…

Gigi continues between the sticks.

Nico-O-, Josko, Ruben and Matheus are our back-4, occasional 3.

Nico-G- is the deepest of the midfielders, while Jeremy, Bernardo, Phil and Rayan-C- all provide the creativity for Erling up front.

James is reserve keeper; Rayan-A-, Rico, Nathan and Abdukodir make up four defenders on the bench. Tijjani is the only out an’ out midfielder on the side, while the 9 subs are completed by wingers / forwards Oscar, Savinho and Omar.

If you weren’t aware, this is the last game that we’ll have both Rayan Ait Nouri and Omar Marmoush in our matchday squad until their time with their respective national teams is complete in the African Cup of Nations. With John, Mateo and Rodri all still unavailable, it’ll be interesting to see who steps in to complete ‘the 9’ in the coming weeks; assuming both John and Rodders aren’t back by next weekend, that is (changes are likely for our midweek encounter).

Notable absences:

-       Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

-       Stefan Ortega – Not selected.

-       Kalvin Phillips – Not selected.

-       John Stones – Out with a thigh injury but it was said on 12^th December that the England defender isn’t expected to be missing for long.

-       Mateo Kovacic – Recovering from secondary surgery to clean up some calcification in his ankle. Expected return is around February 2026.

-       Rodri – Continues to recover from a hamstring injury he received on 5^th October. We have been informed from 5^th December onwards that the Spanish international is back in training and that it would just be a matter of weeks before being considered for a return to a matchday squad. On 12^th December, we were told that Rodders was, “…looking sharper every day”.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Yep.

Result?

Facing 4^th-place Palace in ‘Gameweek 16’, as I prep this piece in midweek, is not something I thought I’d be saying at the beginning of September. Some may have given more credit to the South London side than I did at the end of the summer transfer window but I’m guessing that I’m in fairly good company with regards to today’s hosts and their expected position in the table.

Two back-to-back league wins have cemented an otherwise fairly decent run of form for The Eagles, which does contain one draw and a defeat in their last 6 (W D W L W W).

Head to head, history tells us that it’s been largely a good ground / fixture for us in recent seasons, with a mixture of wins and draws. Every game has been difficult though, I’m keen to add.

As for this afternoon, I don’t think I’ve ever made three, back-to-back draw predictions before but, fellow Blues, I’m about to do that very thing and that’s despite our terrific win in Spain last Wednesday.

I really do believe that this’ll be a toughie and, perhaps, an away draw at high-flying Palace should be seen as a decent point. Yes? No? Well, as long as it’s a well-deserved point and not a lucky one OR one where we throw 3 points away towards the very end.

The good news is that my last two draw predictions ended up in victories for us so fingers crossed for the same outcome; as I predict a share of the points once more.

C’mon City – prove me wrong again! 💪🤞

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:

Prediction: Win

Result: Draw

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Nothing much doin’ really. Largely grey skies; some sunshine and dry. 10C is the official temperature with a ‘feels like’ of 8C in the southerly breeze. 🌥️️🧥🥧🍺⚽

TRANSFER NEWS

Want some transfer news? It’s something I rarely include in my blog postings; particularly a pre-match piece.

However, as you are about to read in the announcement section, I won’t be posting for a short time after today and there does appear to be quite a bit of gossip flying around about a few January departures, if you haven’t already read / heard.

·         News from a few weeks ago was that Nathan Ake would be departing in the winter transfer window and today’s hosts were apparently leading the way for his signature.

·         Not long after that, there were rumours that James Trafford was feeling disillusioned and wanted out in the new year, following the club’s decision to bring Gianluigi Donnarumma in the summer as well as the young England Under-21 keeper.

·         Now, apparently in a move designed to increase our winter transfer window spending power, the club is rumoured to be off-loading Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb and Savinho.

·         Kalvin Phillips is a possible target for Everton in a few weeks’ time, although that could be on loan for now.

Take any or all of those seriously or with a pinch of salt - it’s up to you of course.

However, should at least half of those be true, particularly with regards to the wingers, I think that backs up the other rumour that’s been circling in recent weeks, which is that we, as well as a number of other clubs, are going to trigger Antoine Semenyo’s £65M release clause in January.

There’s also talk about us showing an interest in re-signing Spurs’ right-wing back, Pedro Porro; with the North London side attempting to extend the Spanish international’s contract beyond 2028.

Crystal Palace and England midfielder, Adam Wharton, has also been linked with a move to M11.

Announcement

They’ll be no pre-match blog posting ahead of our League Cup home fixture against Brentford on Wednesday night (17^th December).

This is also my last blog posting before Christmas (WHAT?! 😮) due to a small, pre-Christmas holiday, so they’ll also be no pre-match blog posting ahead of our home league match against West Ham United on Saturday 20^th December; a match I’ll be away for but hope to find a live radio broadcast, at least. 🙏

I hope to be back blogging ahead of our away league game at Nottingham Forest on Saturday 27^th December and so, in the meantime, I wish you all a very happy Christmas!

Solidarity 

Another “What happened?” game.

But don’t bother asking - even Pep doesn’t know.

I think one Manchester City fan leaving the stadium last Tuesday night summed it up perfectly when he simply said, “City in a nutshell”.

The numbers…

·         4 games since we returned from the last international break

·         10 days

·         2 wins

·         2 defeats

·         9 goals scored

·         10 conceded

Oh yeah…and the fastest ever 100 Premier League goals goes to Erling Haaland. 🦸

Crazy statistics.

And that coin flip that I spoke about pre-match? It very nearly landed on its edge before just about tipping over in our favour.

There’s little wonder why even Guardiola can’t put his finger on what’s going on at the moment other than, in his words, “…it’s the Premier League”. 🤷‍♂️

For my part regarding the Fulham game, I thought we looked a little easier to get through once Nico Gonzalez went off on 64 minutes with the scoreline at 2-5. Other City fans leaving the stadium did question our manager’s substitutions.

But well done Fulham – what a performance throughout the game from our hosts. A game that, goals aside, was vibrant throughout. I suppose, then, well done to us too for scoring FIVE goals away from home against a side who were more than up for the fight.

A massive well done to the travelling City fans too. 👏👏👏👏👏…

There’s a blog announcement at the end of this piece.

v Sunderland

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11 .

A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-6-1):

____________________Haaland____________________

 

 

__Doku_________________________________Cherki__

 

_________Silva(C)_________________Foden__________

 

____________________Gonzalez___________________

O’Reilly___________________________________Nunes

__________Gvardiol______________Dias(VC)__________

 

 

__________________Donnarumma_________________

Subs: Trafford, Ait-Nouri, Lewis, Ake, Khusanov, Stones, Reijnders, Savinho and Marmoush.

Gigi continues in goal and will be hoping, I’m sure, to be picking the ball out of his net far less often this afternoon.

A back 4, occasional 3, of Nico-O-, Josko, Ruben and Matheus would be my guess.

Nico-G- continues in the defensive midfield role and fingers remain crossed that the Spanish Under-21 international can remain free from injury.

Jeremy, Bernardo, Phil and Rayan-C- is my attacking-4 prediction.

Erling up top.

An apparently unhappy and want-away, James, is reserve stopper for the afternoon; Rayan-A-, Rico, Nathan, Abdukodir and John make up FIVE defenders on the side. Tijjani, Savinho and Omar complete ‘the 9’ by giving us various attacking options in reserve.

Notable absences:

-       Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.

-       Stefan Ortega – Not selected.

-       Kalvin Phillips – Not selected.

-       Mateo Kovacic – Recovering from secondary surgery to clean up some calcification in his ankle. Expected return is around February 2026.

-       Rodri – Continues to recover from a hamstring injury he received on 5^th October. We were informed on 5^th December that the Spanish international was back in training and that it would be a matter of weeks before being considered for a return. The staff and the player himself are simply making sure that the area is fully recovered so as to try an’ avoid a reoccurrence / future set back.

-       Oscar Bobb – Not selected.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Yeah, that’d do.

I’d love for O’Reilly to get an opportunity to showcase his central midfield attacking skills at some stage but he’s doing so well at left-wing back, that would only serve to expose us further.

I think I’d have Bobb on the bench instead of Savinho at the moment; not that the Norwegian international has sparked into life himself yet this season.

Result?

I feel more confident talking about our opponents than I do about my own team at the moment. 🤪 One thing is for certain, The Black Cats will have no fear whatsoever coming to our place this afternoon. For me, that says both a lot about how well they have done since their return to the top flight…and is a little sad and concerning to admit from our point of view also.

So, regarding our opponents, 14 league games played and only 3 defeats. 14 games played and only 14 goals conceded – the joint-3^rd best defensive record in the league and, of course now, better than ours.

6^th in the table and just 5 points behind us; their last 6 in the prem reads, W D D L W D.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

🚨TEMPTING FATE ALAERT!🚨

Shhhh…🤫 They don’t score too many league goals.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Outside of the bottom 5 clubs, 18 goals from those 14 games played is the joint-2^nd lowest for finding the back of the opponents net. Tight, organised, hardworking and counter attacking appears to be their weapons of choice.

Yep…it's another one where both our players and fans will have to be very, very patient and where our midfield and defence needs to be alert to the dangers of those counters.

God I hope our players are payin’ attention and have been training accordingly.

Their top goalscorer is French born, Wilson Isidor, with 4 and their assist king is ex-Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen midfielder, Granit Xhaka; again with 4 and who has a goal to his name also. From deep inside the Sunderland midfield, this 33-year-old likes to pop forward and contribute at the ‘business end’ of the pitch, so he needs monitoring for sure.

As for us? What can I say? Scoring loads but conceding even more.

Forgetting this game for a brief moment; going forward we’re desperate for some muscle in midfield. We’re also desperate for a real midfield leader; a REAL Captain on the pitch.

I would say also, aside from needing a specialist right-wing back, that we could do with a top-notch, central defender and one with some pace too.

There…I’ve said it.

As for this game? I’m just gonna do exactly what I did before our match last Tuesday and call this one just how I see it - a draw. Hopefully, as with the last time I predicted a share of the points, I’ll be proven wrong and we’ll come away with all 3. 🤞

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:

Prediction: N/A

Result: N/A

Expected weather conditions during the game: Sunshine and showers before the game gives way to prolonged periods of light rain. Some of it could turn heavy. Along with the wet comes a light westerly breeze with occasional gusts of wind and the forecasted temperature is a fairly mild-sounding 10C, although I can’t imagine it feeling so in the damp conditions. 🌦️🧥🥧🍺⚽

Announcement

There’ll be no pre-match blog posting ahead of our Wednesday night game. I’m not even too sure how I managed to get the last one done and posted before the Fulham clash.

There will also be one, possibly two games just prior to Christmas day that I might also not be able to cover but I’ll look at that situation nearer the time.

In addition, there’s also a chance that from some point in January 2026, I won’t be able to preview any midweek matches regardless of the competition and may, instead, have to simply concentrate on weekend fixtures. Once again, I’ll see nearer the time when I know about work scheduling.

Solidarity