Crystal Palace v Man City: Pre-match build-up

Michael Plant brings the latest from Pep Guardiola's press conference ahead of Manchester City's trip to Crystal Palace.

Transcript

00:00I'm at Manchester City's CFA training base where about half an hour ago Pep Guardiola

00:04held his pre-match press conference ahead of the Premier League game against Crystal

00:07Palace this weekend. Of course City go into that game on the back of finally ending their

00:11winless run in midweek with a 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest. I thought that was a really

00:16encouraging performance actually from City. I thought they played very well and certainly

00:18in possession and on the ball created plenty of attacking opportunities even if maybe a

00:23few fragilities did show in that how many chances they conceded to Forest. But overall

00:27City delighted to get back to winning ways aiming to do the same again this weekend against

00:32Palace, a side who have struggled this season but have actually done okay in the last couple

00:35of weeks. They've only actually lost one of the last six Premier League games and although

00:38they do sit just outside the relegation zone perhaps signs that Oliver Glasner's side

00:42are starting to slowly turn things around. And today in the press conference, I mean

00:46truthfully there wasn't a huge amount in the open section in the first part of the press

00:49conference. It was mainly about team news for Pep Guardiola and he did confirm that

00:53Nathan Ake won't be back. He picked up an injury against Forest last time out. Guardiola

00:58said it looked like it would be a longer one in midweek but didn't give any further update

01:01today. But he did confirm that Manuel Akanji, he also picked up an injury in that game could

01:05possibly be back to face Palace at the weekend. Phil Foden won't be though. He is suffering

01:10from bronchitis, missed the Forest game and will also not be an option at Selhurst Park

01:15along with John Stones and Matteo Coppocic, two injuries who have been going on for a

01:19couple of weeks now. We didn't expect them back but Guardiola was asked about it today

01:22anyway. And then the only other real news is he was asked about Kevin De Bruyne. Obviously

01:26the Belgian started his first match in midweek since the 18th of September. He's been struggling

01:31with a pelvis issue for a number of months now. And Guardiola is certainly easing him

01:35back in. He did say that he's not totally sure if he's able to play three days, three

01:40days, three days as he put it. So uncertain whether he'll be able to start but I suspect

01:45he'll play some part at Selhurst Park for what is a bit of a patched up Manchester City

01:48team. Looks like Jack Grealish could play in the middle again. He was asked about that

01:52today, Pep Guardiola, along with Kevin De Bruyne's future. Didn't really have a huge

01:55amount to say on that. And about Palace's form, very complimentary as you can imagine,

01:59referencing back to the end of last season when Palace were excellent. Probably not quite

02:03at those levels now but it's always been a grind that City have struggled with at Selhurst

02:07Park and have had a couple of step-ups over the years. Guardiola, we'll certainly hope

02:11that's not the case this weekend as they start to slowly try and claw back that lead that

02:15Liverpool have amassed at the top of the table.