After the midweek victory over Nottingham Forest, it was back to non-winning ways for Manchester City on Saturday.
Crystal Palace, meanwhile, have quietly rediscovered some of the form from late last season: it’s just one loss in seven for the Eagles.
Our Gameweek 15 Scout Notes begin with the two-all draw at Selhurst Park.
LEWIS BAN
It was a matter of time before Rico Lewis (£4.7m) found the net, with his inverting from full-back (and sometimes even outright stationing in midfield/on the wing) resulting in him occupying some advanced positions.
That hasn’t always translated into shots. His goal against Palace was just his seventh attempt of 2024/25. Even Manuel Akanji (£5.4m) has one more than that.
But he’s regularly seen in prominent positions during City’s build-up, hovering and giving an option. Often, he’s not found by a teammate. The impulse, and perhaps instruction, to feed Erling Haaland (£15.0m) tends to win out.
Take the Norwegian’s early saved chance on Saturday (see below). Kevin De Bruyne (£9.4m) receives the ball, turns, and immediately looks for Haaland. Totally understandably, too: Haaland is of course the club’s main source of goals.
But Lewis, square of De Bruyne, is in acres of space to the left. It’s a pattern we see repeated throughout City’s games. Look at the highlights from Saturday; Lewis is advanced in pretty much all of the visitors’ best chances.
Lewis finally got his opportunity midway through the second half. Fed by Bernardo Silva (£6.3m), he finished brilliantly from 15 yards.
And now, of course, he’s banned. A dismissal for two bookable offences, 15 minutes after his goal, rules him out of the Manchester derby.
His owners in FPL might be naturally inclined to sell. But as noted elsewhere, City are the early kick-off in all three Gameweeks over Christmas. It could be that we get a heads-up on his inclusion in/omission from Pep Guardiola’s XI on each occasion, making starting/benching decisions that bit easier.
With Kyle Walker (£5.2m) in dire form – he was culpable for both of Palace’s goals on Saturday – and lower blocks/feebler attacks (hence not as much need for Walker’s recovery ‘pace’) to come from Gameweek 18 onwards, Lewis’s starting prospects might actually be quite decent over Christmas.
‘A SEASON TO SUFFER’
This wasn’t a terrible City performance; it also wasn’t great. It was a mere continuation of what we’ve seen in recent weeks: long periods of control with the ball, some wasteful finishing and fragility in midfield/at the back.
Haaland, as he seems to be every Saturday, was towards the summit of the expected goals column. The early chance above was smashed into Dean Henderson‘s (£4.4m) face but he did get back on the scoresheet later, nodding in Matheus Nunes‘ (£4.9m) cross.
De Bruyne getting through 90 minutes, less than 72 hours after his first start since injury, was a huge positive for City. His presence, with that ability to pick a pass or whip an early cross in, is good news for Haaland going forward.
Ruben Dias’ (£5.4m) availability is a plus, too. His last-ditch defending saved City’s bacon on several occasions on Saturday.
But with the injury list still long, no holding midfielder available and some key players’ powers – Walker, Ilkay Gundogan (£6.5m) – on the wane, the problems that do exist, particularly at the back, look set to drag on for a while.
Guardiola admitted as much in his post-match interviews.
“It’s a season to suffer and stay there, then we see what happens in the last months.” – Pep Guardiola
MORE FITNESS ISSUES
Just when the injury situation looks like improving, City get hit with another blow. It’s a never-ending cycle, with a shortage of personnel meaning those who are fit have to play more often – and are consequently more at risk of picking up muscle injuries.
Nathan Ake (£5.3m) is newly unavailable with a hamstring issue sustained in Gameweek 14. Whatever forced Akanji out of that match also kept him out of the trip to Selhurst Park.
Their absences meant that Josko Gvardiol (£6.2m), part of a three-man backline as Lewis inverted, had much less attacking freedom on Saturday.
There were fresh fitness issues further forward, too. Jack Grealish (£6.4m) and Jeremy Doku (£6.2m) impressed on Wednesday but weren’t deemed fit enough to start in south London, although did at least come on as substitutes later.
“Jeremy [Doku] comes from a long injury and played 90 minutes [on Wednesday]. Jack [Grealish] yesterday feels niggles, discomfort and comes from long injury.” – Pep Guardiola
Phil Foden (£9.1m) missed out again with bronchitis.
MUNOZ FINALLY DELIVERING
There was a reason why Daniel Munoz (£4.7m) was such a big pre-season bandwagon.
Since his arrival in England earlier this year, he’s been one of the most attacking defenders in FPL. This season, he’s ranked the following among all Premier League defenders:
- 1st for big chances
- 2nd for penalty box touches
- 2nd for shots in the box
- 1st for xG
Above: Munoz’s advanced positions are shown in Palace’s Gameweek 15 pass map
The frustration was that all those big chances were amounting to naught until the last week or so. He hadn’t scored for the Eagles in his first 28 appearances, spurning opportunity after opportunity. There’s a reason why he’s a wing-back and not a forward, clearly.
But those chances and the xG had to count for something eventually. Two goals in three matches have lifted him into the top 10 of the defenders’ FPL points table.
With a favourable fixture swing on the horizon, there’ll be renewed interest in the Colombia international – although note that he is one booking away from a suspension:
Palace’s improving form will only add to the allure. It’s two wins, four draws and just one loss since Gameweek 8. The Eagles are top 10 material for xG for and against during that time, despite some tricky fixtures.
A settled backline (unchanged in nine) is clearly helping after the early-season teamsheet turmoil. All the central midfielders are set to be fit in Gameweek 16, too, for pretty much the first time since August. Eberechi Eze (£6.6m) is back fit, as well, although still looks to be lacking something – understandably – since his lay-off.
