Premier League bets of the weekend: Crystal Palace can make life difficult for Manchester City
After the interational break, domestic action resumes with Alan Pardew's men in the box seat as they have a good record against top teams, but Manuel Pellegrini's side remain the favourites
This is a blockbuster day in the English Premier League, starting with Everton v Chelsea and ending with Manchester United v Liverpool. Sandwiched in between is the exciting clash of the early front-runners as Crystal Palace host Manchester City.
Alan Pardew's Palace have developed into a dangerous side even against the elite, as they demonstrated with their 2-1 win at Chelsea before the international break. The fact that it was only Jose Mourinho's second defeat at Stamford Bridge, in his 100th home game as Chelsea manager, is ample proof of the scale of Palace's achievement.
Against that is Palace's only defeat this season, 2-1 at home to Arsenal, and the two results fit the black-and-white pattern under Pardew. Since he took over in January, Palace have played eight games against the big six teams and have won four and lost four.
Since [Pardew] took over in January, Palace have played eight games against the big six teams and have won four and lost four
One of the wins was 2-1 at home to City in April, which is indicative of Palace's form under Pardew but not necessarily a good guide to how City will perform on their return to Selhurst Park.
City appear to be in much better shape now, although it has to be noted that they finished last season in good form with seven wins out of nine - a sequence of victories interrupted only by back-to-back defeats at Palace and Manchester United.
If we go back to City's Champions League exit in March, they have won 11 out of 13 in the Premier League since then and Palace are one of only two teams to beat them.
Palace's record under Pardew against the big teams suggests it is win or bust with their attacking approach and, like they did at Chelsea, they may prove to be one of the best long-odds shots of the season.