FA Cup final: Where Crystal Palace v Man City will be won and lost

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The Road to Wembley: How Palace and City reached the FA Cup Final External Link

Ahead an all-Premier League FA Cup final on Saturday, football writer Adrian Clarke assesses the key threats both teams possess.

If recent meetings between Palace and Man City are anything to go by, the 144th FA Cup final should be a fabulously exciting watch this weekend.

Eleven goals were scored across the two Premier League matches, as both teams caused each other a host of problems in defence.

Palace have netted two goals in five of their last six encounters with Pep Guardiola’s side, but tellingly they did not win any of those matches.

Oliver Glasner’s men arrive at Wembley in good form though and will be confident of causing an upset.

Palace have set-piece power

The Eagles have been outstanding from dead-ball situations this season, scoring 16 Premier League goals from set-pieces.

That level of output is the joint-best in the division, with the likes of Adam Wharton, Eberechi Eze and Will Hughes providing quality deliveries.

The majority of their set-piece goals - 11 - have come from corners, and Palace have also scored from four free-kicks and one throw-in.

PL teams with most set-piece goals 24/25

Team Set-piece goals (excl. penalties) Crystal Palace 16 Nott'm Forest 16 Arsenal 16 Aston Villa 15 Everton 15

This record will not surprise Guardiola at all.

Man City will be very aware of the immense threat the Eagles carry, after conceding from corners against them in both league fixtures.

At Selhurst Park, Maxence Lacroix rose highest inside the six-yard box to score from a simple header, set up by Hughes with an inswinging cross.

Lacroix's goal v Man City

In the reverse fixture, it was Wharton’s turn to whip a ball into the box at pace, with Chris Richards this time nodding home from close range.

The presence of Jean-Philippe Mateta standing in front of Ederson distracted the Man City keeper, while defenders inside the six-yard box appeared powerless to stop Richards from thundering a header into the net.

Centre-back Lacroix is a particularly dominant figure.

He has had eight goalscoring attempts from set-pieces this season, the joint-most of all players across the division.

And only one top-flight defender, Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk with 19, has had more headed attempts than Lacroix's 17.

PL players with most set-piece shots 24/25

Player Total Maxence Lacroix 8 Ollie Watkins 8 Antoine Semenyo 8

Man City generally defend set-pieces very well, but having been exposed by Glasner’s side before, they will be on edge every time a Palace player stands over a corner or wide free-kick.

How will Man City try to exploit Palace’s 3-4-2-1?

Glasner’s men want to settle into a 5-4-1 when they are out of possession. In that situation, Man City’s task will be to draw Palace's players out of position.

Rico Lewis’s equaliser, when the sides drew 2-2 at Selhurst Park earlier this season, provided an example of City doing this successfully.

Matheus Nunes’s position on the touchline drew Palace's right wing-back Daniel Munoz wider than he perhaps would have liked, and City targeted the pocket of space between him and the nearest centre-back.

As you can see below, Palace's shape was initially fine as they looked to handle City’s box midfield.

What happened next is that Kevin De Bruyne ran off Mateta to receive an angled pass, and he shifted the ball quickly to Bernardo Silva.

This was the key moment, as Palace centre-back Trevor Chalobah was then sucked out of position to engage with Silva but arrived too late.

City set up a 2v1 overload as Ismaila Sarr had not tracked Lewis, who then drifted into a hole to receive a pass that set him up to score.

It is this type of clever move that Guardiola’s men will try to recreate at Wembley Stadium.

When facing a 3-4-2-1, most teams target space behind the two centre midfielders, and gaps that appear between the wide centre-back and wing-back.

There will be lots of moving pieces when City have possession, and their aim will be to set up numerical advantages like this one.

Eze and Munoz can be thorns in City’s side

Two players who are in scintillating form right now are Palace's Eze and Munoz.

Both were phenomenal in last weekend's 2-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur, and they will be brimming with confidence on Saturday.

Munoz is statistically the most creative defender in the Premier League this season.

He is a chance-creating machine, flying down the right flank to score four goals and register five assists in the league. He has also scored two goals in the FA Cup this season.

Palace left-back Tyrick Mitchell also makes the top five for chances created in open play by defenders, providing balance to Munoz's exploits on the right.

PL defenders with most chances created in open play 24/25

Player Total Daniel Munoz 43 Antonee Robinson 42 Trent Alexander-Arnold 40 Tyrick Mitchell 40 Pedro Porro 37

Munoz scored against City at Selhurst Park, after running off Nunes and Lewis to find space and receive a switch-of-play pass.

Fast transfers of play from one side of the pitch to the other will make Munoz a key threat for Glasner in the final.

Munoz's strike v City

Munoz was also hard to tame at the Etihad Stadium, hugging the touchline to help stretch out Guardiola’s back four.

His driving run at speed and pinpoint low-ball across the face of goal (shown below) set up Eze for a goal that was narrowly disallowed for offside.

Munoz had earlier helped to set up Eze’s opening goal at Man City, by receiving a pass out wide and then shifting an early forward pass down the line for Sarr to chase.

The way he dragged Lewis towards him, to open room for Sarr to surge down that side, is something Palace do often and brilliantly.

It will certainly form part of Glasner’s game plan at Wembley.

Munoz feeds Sarr to set up Eze at Man City

Munoz and Sarr link play Previous Next

Munoz sarr 2 1 / 2 Munoz sarr 1 2 / 2

(Click right arrow above to see other image of same attack)

Eze has scored five goals in his last four matches, including two strikes against Spurs last weekend.

His finishing has been exceptional and he has been regularly getting into good goalscoring positions within a Palace side that is high on self-belief.

Eze has scored 10 goals for club and country and supplied seven assists since Christmas, giving him an average of one goal involvement in every 107.7 minutes during that period.

Eze's attacking stats since Christmas (all competitions)*

Statistic Total Minutes played 1,831 Goals 10 Assists 7 Minutes per direct goal involvement 107.7

*With Crystal Palace and England

With three goals and one assist in four FA Cup matches this season, Eze will fancy his chances of adding to his competition tally in the final.

Beware of De Bruyne

De Bruyne produced a virtuoso individual display, playing as a "false nine", when the two sides met in April.

Palace never got a handle on his skill or movement as he registered six shots (including one goal) and three key passes (with one assist).

De Bruyne is more likely to start in a No 10 role on Saturday, behind either Omar Marmoush or Erling Haaland, and will take up positions between the lines.

He caused Palace problems in both league meetings this season by sneaking into holes behind their midfield pair, but usually far enough away from the three centre-backs.

If one of Palace's back three doesn’t get tight enough to engage him, De Bruyne will release somebody with a trademark through-ball.

With the pace of Haaland, Marmoush, Savinho and Jeremy Doku around him, that would spell danger for Palace.

These two moves (below) show the typical positions De Bruyne took up against Palace in the league, receiving passes in space between units.

Palace v Man City - De Bruyne receives ball in No 10 position

Man City v Palace - De Bruyne runs between midfield and defence

De Bruyne created a chance from each of these situations, so screening the service into him will be of paramount importance to Glasner.

Don’t write off a shock

These are just four areas to watch in a contest that will have fascinating duels and tactical battlegrounds all over the pitch.

To have any chance of causing a upset, Palace will need to defend with incredible fortitude and concentration, just as Southampton did against City last weekend.

At the other end of the pitch though, they certainly have individuals who can hurt Guardiola’s men with their quality.

This final is set to be highly competitive and should feature goals.

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