English FA CUP
2025-05-17 - Crystal Palace vs Manchester City
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English FA Cup Final
Saturday 17th May 2025 - Kick Off 4:30pm
This game is live on TV
Crystal Palace
Oliver Glasner has asked his key players to maintain rhythm and momentum by picking strong teams in the last couple of Premier League outings even though Crystal Palace have a big Cup Final coming up. Those decisions have been vindicated with the team producing a couple of strong performances and fans will head to Wembley Stadium firmly in the belief of finally seeing Crystal Palace lift a major trophy.
A slow start to the Premier League campaign had some questioning whether the manager should remain in charge, but Oliver Glasner's reputation has only been enhanced after the performances of the last six months. His team are not going to earn a spot in Europe through their League position, but Crystal Palace have enjoyed a strong Cup run with wins over Stockport County, Doncaster Rovers, Millwall, Fulham and then Aston Villa in the FA Cup Semi Final last month.
Crystal Palace have lost just 2 of their last 14 games in all competitions and those came in consecutive matches last month. Since then, the side are unbeaten in 5 games in all competitions and they have won 2 of their last 3 following the very comfortable victory at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Adam Wharton missed the win at Spurs, but Oliver Glasner has spoken positively about his availability for the Cup Final.
Predicted Line Up: Henderson, Richards, Lacroix, Guehi, Munoz, Mitchell, Wharton, Lerma, Sarr, Eze and Mateta
Manchester City
Seeing Nottingham Forest drop two points on Sunday against a relegated opponent would have some Manchester City fans feeling better after their own team had done the same twenty-four hours earlier. The goalless draw at St Mary's has put a bit of pressure on Pep Guardiola's team when it comes to a top five finish and fans will be interested to see how their rivals get on this weekend before Manchester City host Bournemouth in the top flight on Tuesday.
Of course that is something the fans can place some energy in doing, but Guardiola and the Manchester City squad will be focusing on winning a trophy and somewhat salvaging what has been a disappointing season. It is the third year in a row that Manchester City are competing in the FA Cup Final and they team have beaten Salford City, Leyton Orient, Plymouth Argyle, Bournemouth and then Nottingham Forest in their Cup run this season.
Manchester City are unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions, which is a positive, but they would have been very surprised to see their 5 game winning run ended at bottom club Southampton last weekend. Since losing at Nottingham Forest, Manchester City have won 3 of 5 games played away from the Etihad Stadium.
John Stones and Nathan Ake are set to miss out, while Rodri is an outsider for consideration in the match day squad.
Predicted Line Up: Ortega, Nunes, Gvardiol, Akanji, Ruben Dias, Kovacic, Lewis, Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne, Foden and Haaland
Head to Head
Manchester City may have taken four points from the two Premier League matches against Crystal Palace, but the South London club have to feel they should have done much better.
They led twice at Selhurst Park in an eventual 2-2 draw and Crystal Palace were leading 0-2 at the Etihad Stadium last month, while threatening to add more goals.
However, things turned around dramatically on that day as Manchester City rallied for a 5-2 home win.
Manchester City are unbeaten in 7 games against Crystal Palace, but 3 have ended in draws.
Prediction
These two clubs may have begun the season with very different expectations and back in August it may have sounded like a disappointment to Manchester City fans if they were told the only opportunity to win silverware would be in the FA Cup.
At the same time, Crystal Palace fans would have snapped your hand off for that opportunity, but that would have been in August and motivation for the two sets of players will be high in May.
Pep Guardiola has made it clear that the FA Cup should not paper over what has been a poor season overall, but his team selections have made it clear that he wants Manchester City to win this.
The goalless draw at St Mary's has just put some pressure on Manchester City in their bid to secure a top five finish, but that is something they will think about on another day. Two Premier League matches against Crystal Palace will have made it very clear of the challenge that Oliver Glasner's team will put together for Manchester City and this is a tough Final.
Experience is with the Manchester City squad as they get ready to compete in the FA Cup Final for a third year in a row, but they were upset by rivals Manchester United twelve months ago. That will not have been lost on Pep Guardiola, and Manchester City are going to have to be at their best to pick up the trophy on Saturday afternoon.
It may be the third Final in a row for Manchester City, but it is just the third FA Cup Final EVER for Crystal Palace.
Both previous occasions have ended in very close defeats to Manchester United and they will be hoping it is third time lucky against the other club from Manchester.
Crystal Palace will be encouraged by how they have performed against Manchester City, especially from an attacking point of view, and having Marc Guehi available to play in the back three is important. His absence was clear in the 5-2 loss at the Etihad Stadium last month, but Crystal Palace could have been further clear than 0-2 before the capitulation began and that is something that Oliver Glasner will be reminding his players.
The Eagles do look a big price to get the better of Manchester City and they are expected to play their part in what could be an entertaining Cup Final.
4 of the last 6 FA Cup Finals have ended with three or more goals shared out, including each of the 3 Manchester City have been involved in under Pep Guardiola. This is a team that still has some vulnerabilities when teams are willing to push forward against them and Crystal Palace enjoyed playing at Wembley Stadium when beating Aston Villa in the Semi Final at the end of April.
The last 4 times Crystal Palace and Manchester City have faced one another have all ended with at least four goals shared out and this FA Cup Final has all of the ingredients to get to at least three goals scored in normal time. The counter attack of Crystal Palace could be key to actually winning the Cup for the first time, but Manchester City are likely to be a threat going forward too and so backing goals is the play.
The Pick :
Crystal Palace 2-2 Manchester City
