Manchester City vs Crystal Palace team news: City line-up with no striker as James Milner starts in attack with Frank Lampard dropped

Demichelis, Fernandinho and Navas join Milner in returning to the team while Palace make two changes

Jack de Menezes
Saturday 20 December 2014 13:18 GMT
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James Milner starts for Manchester City
James Milner starts for Manchester City

Manchester City head into their Premier League match against Crystal Palace knowing that a four-goal win will see them replace Chelsea at the top of the table for the first time since the opening weekend of the season.

However, they will have to do so without a recognised striker after Manuel Pellegrini named six midfielders in his starting line-up given that all of his first-team strikers out through injury. Edin Dzeko limped out of the warm-up for last week’s win over Leicester, and joins Sergio Aguero and Stevan Jovetic on the sidelines.

It means that James Milner starts in attack, although he is likely to rotate with Samir Nasri and David Silva, while Jesus Navas replaces Frank Lampard despite the midfielder scoring the winning goal last time out.

In defence, Martin Demichelis replaces injured captain Vincent Kompany who is set to be out for the entire festive period, while Fernandinho replaces Fernando in midfield.

Crystal Palace make two changes from the side that drew with Spurs last weekend, with Marouane Chamakh replaced by Frazier Campbell, while Wilfried Zaha drops to the bench in favour of Jason Puncheon. Palace have not won in their last four outings, and sit just a point above the relegation zone.

Frank Lampard drops to the bench

Line-ups:

Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Mangala, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Navas, Yaya Toure, Silva, Nasri, Milner

Subs: Caballero, Boyata, Sagna, Fernando, Lampard, Ambrose, Sinclair

Crystal Palace: Speroni, Kelly, Dann, Hangeland, Ward, Bolasie, Jedinak, Ledley, McArthur, Puncheon, Campbell.

Subs: Hennessey, Mariappa, Delaney, Bannan, Thomas, Zaha, Gayle

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