Crystal Palace vs Manchester City prediction: City to claim FA Cup glory at Wembley | OneFootball

The FA Cup final takes on Saturday when Crystal Palace face Manchester City at Wembley, looking to get their hands on the trophy for the first time.

It is the third time that the London side have reached the final, losing to Manchester United on both previous occasions back in 1990 and 2016.

They’re one of four clubs to compete in two finals without lifting the trophy, along with Queen’s Park (1884 & 1885), Birmingham City (1931 & 1956) and Watford (1984 & 2019).

This will be City’s 14th FA Cup final, and fifth since 2011, and they have won the trophy seven times, behind only Arsenal (14), Manchester United (13), Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham (8 each).

After being beaten in the final last season by their Manchester rivals United, City will be desperate to be the team celebrating on Saturday.

Goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo gave United a 2-0 lead in the first half. Jeremy Doku pulled a goal back for City with just three minutes to go but they were unable to find the equaliser.

They have only lost consecutive appearances in major domestic finals once before, when they lost the 1926 and 1933 FA Cup finals against Bolton and Everton, respectively.

Crystal Palace vs Manchester City tips: Closer than it looks

Eight places and 16 points separate the two sides in the Premier League table, but that, plus the fact that Palace haven’t beaten City in seven attempts, counts for nothing in a one-off game.

City were the Champions last season and seven places and 31 points ahead of United, and it was the Red Devils who came out on top.

Football betting sites understandably have City as the favourites at 79/100, while you can get 73/20 on a Palace win and 3/1 on a draw after 90 minutes.

There have been plenty of goals for the two sides in the competition, with Palace scoring 12 and conceding just one, in their 3-1 win over Millwall in the Fifth Round.

City have scored 17, including eight in the third-round win over League Two Salford City, and they have conceded just three.

Both teams have scored in all but one of the last six meetings between the two sides, which have seen 28 goals scored, so surely we can expect goals on Saturday?

City won 5-2 at home earlier this season, 4-2 at Selhurst Park last season and the same scoreline the year before at the Etihad.

They also won the last three FA Cup meetings with Palace by an aggregate score of 18-4.

The most recent meeting was in the fourth round in 2016-17, with the Citizens winning 3-0 at Selhurst Park.

It would be easy to back City, but the fact that they struggled last weekend to break down Southampton, who have conceded 82 goals so far this season, does raise some questions.

They are still a long way off their best, but they are unbeaten in their last 10, including five straight wins before Saturday’s goalless draw at St Mary’s.

It’s been quite a season for Eberechi Eze, who scored his first England goal in March’s 3–0 win over Latvia in the World Cup qualifier at Wembley Stadium.

He also scored the opening goal in the FA Cup semi-final when they beat Aston Villa 3-0 to set up Saturday’s final.

The 26-year-old has scored 13 goals so far this season and goes into this match with five goals in his last four appearances, including two in just three minutes when Palace beat Spurs 2-0 last Sunday.

Betting sites have him at 12/1 to score first, just as he did last time he came up against City, or last in the final, or you can get 19/5 on him scoring at any time.

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