Matchweek 2 of the Premier League brings one of its more genuinely curious early season fixtures: Crystal Palace hosting Manchester City at Selhurst Park on 28 August 2026. Both clubs are in the early stages of a new managerial relationship, Palace with Pierre Sage and City with Enzo Maresca, which makes reading this one harder than usual. Palace opened with a 0-2 defeat at Everton on 22 August and sit 16th, whereas City are eighth after beating Bournemouth 2-1. Add Marc Guéhi returning to his former club in City's colours and you have a fixture with some actual emotional texture, not just table implications.
Sage and Maresca have no competitive head to head record worth referencing, having taken their respective jobs in June 2026 with just weeks of pre season behind them. With no shared history to draw on, this will be decided by how well each man has installed his ideas rather than by any tactical mind games between the two benches.
Palace arrive winless after that opening loss at Goodison, with the 0-2 reverse showing the beginnings of the compact shape Sage is trying to build even if there is plenty of work still to do. City are in better shape, three points up after their win over Bournemouth despite losing the Community Shield to Arsenal beforehand and with Haaland leading the line, they have a head start most clubs would envy.
Chadi Riad is out with a knee problem and Dean Henderson is a doubt with an ankle or foot issue, which could force Sage into an awkward goalkeeping decision. Ismaila Sarr is also carrying a groin problem and comes into this match surrounded by transfer speculation, putting a lot of responsibility on Jean-Philippe Mateta, Adam Wharton and Daniel Munoz to carry Palace through. City are without Jeremy Doku (calf), which thins their wide options without exactly crippling them and Elliot Anderson came through some cramp in the opener and should be available, with the squad having enough depth to absorb both absences without changing the basic shape of what Maresca is trying to do.
Palace are expected to line up in a 3-4-2-1 or something similar, looking to stay compact and hit on the counter. Sage has built on Glasner's foundations while pushing for more structured build up from the back and Mateta's ability to hold the ball and link play will matter most when Palace do break forward. Wharton anchors the midfield, the back three need to stay tight without Riad and Henderson's possible absence adds a question mark over distribution under pressure. City line up in a 4-2-3-1 built around high possession, with Maresca keeping plenty of Guardiola's positional principles but giving Haaland more freedom to drop short, while Foden creates from the half spaces and Guéhi's knowledge of Selhurst Park could help City read Palace's pressing triggers. The central question is whether City's double pivot can disrupt Wharton's anchoring role and whether Palace's wing backs can hold their shape against City's attacking full backs, because losing Doku removes one of City's main options on the left and how Mateta fares against City's centre backs will probably decide whether Palace get anything on the counter.
City's historical advantage over Palace is lopsided: roughly 41 wins to 18, with 17 draws across all competitions. They have also gone 11 Premier League visits to Selhurst Park without losing and Palace have not beaten City in the top flight at home since 2015. The one piece of counter evidence is last May's FA Cup final, which Palace won 1-0, a result that at least tells you this squad knows what beating City feels like. It probably will not be enough to flip an 11 game unbeaten run on their own patch but it is not nothing.
Set pieces are worth watching, if only because Mateta in the air is a genuine threat from any Palace delivery and Guéhi knows these routines from the inside, with his familiarity with Palace's marking patterns potentially helping City exploit any lapses even at this early stage of the season.
Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester City. Mateta or a set piece gives Palace a realistic route to goal and this should be tight for long stretches but City's squad depth and Haaland's reliability should be enough to see them through and Sage deserves credit for how quickly this Palace side looks defensively organised.
Ryan Baldi
Football Writer
Ryan Baldi is a professional football writer with years of experience and has been featured by respected outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Sky Sports, DAZN, FourFourTwo, ESPN, Yahoo Sport and Football365. He has also written several books including Arsène Who?.
