At the end of the last season Barcelona lost the first position to Real. The Catalan club made several misfires at the end of the season, kindly letting its main rival from the capital to go ahead. The start of the new tournament turned out to be crumpled for the Catalans. “Blue Garnet” were able to win ten fights for 18 rounds, which brought 34 points and the third position. In last five rounds Barca drew once with Eibar (1:1) and won four matches against Valladolid (3:0), Huesca (1:0), Athletic (3:2) and Granada (4:0). In the Champions League Ronald Koeman’s charges failed to cope with Juventus (0:3) only in the last round, which sent the team to the playoffs and into the arms of Paris Saint-Germain. In the first game for the Spanish Super Cup, the Catalans played with another Basque club Real Sociedad. In this game the main time ended in a draw, but current hosts took the upper hand in the penalty shootout (2:1 pins). Today Coutinho, Pique, Roberto and Fati, who has a knee injury, will not be able to enter the field. Lionel Messi’s appearance on the field is still a big question.
Crystal Palace remains as the middle peasant of the league. The current 13th place only confirms this state of affairs. The team has pulled away from the relegation zone at a respectful distance, but it is unlikely to reach the European cups either. In 18 matches Crystal Palace scored only 23 points. However, Crystal Palace is not so badly playing against Manchester City. In the last 5 fights the team lost twice to a more status opponent with one victory and two parities. Guests have many injured. So this time it will be extremely difficult to count on a positive outcome of the meeting at Etihad. More accurate soccer predictions can be obtained from the link provided.
