Man City v Crystal Palace: Back Marmoush To Have 2 Or More Shots On Target at 6/5 | OneFootball

English Premier League

Stinch is back to preview Man City v Crystal Palace in the Premier League

Football tipster and odds compiler Mark Stinchcombe is back to preview Manchester City v Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday lunchtime...

Betfair Saturday Superboost

Aston Villa' January  Transfer Window signing Marco Asensio has enjoyed a fine start at his new club, becoming one of Villa's key goalscoring threats.

The Spaniard has registered 11 shots on target in his last seven games, and on Saturday, against the Premier League's bottom club Southampton you can back him at the super-boosted price of 1/1 (from 2/5) to have at least one shot on target.

To take advantage of this latest Betfair Superboost just click on the odds in the below bet banner to go directly to the pre-loaded betslip.

Football... Only Bettor. Watch the latest episode now.

🔗 Spotify

Manchester City v Crystal PalaceSaturday April 12, 12:30Live on Sky Sports

Man City's price

With seven games to go, Manchester City come into this clash in the unusual position of sixth by their high standards of previous seasons having won six of the last seven titles. With top five needed for guaranteed Champions League football next season, there's plenty of motivation for them here being one point behind Newcastle and only one point ahead of Aston Villa in seventh.

As a result, they come into this Saturday lunchtime kick-off priced at 1/2. Given that in this fixture in the previous seven seasons their average odds have been 1/6, it certainly looks like the market is taking into account City's underperforming season.

Palace's positive points

In a somewhat of a quirky fashion, Crystal Palace have a very good record against Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium. In the last six visits, they've scored at least two goals in five of them, resulting in two wins, two draws and two defeats. In three of those matches Palace have comeback from behind to get results which is unheard of for most sides in the Premier League, even the 'big six'. It's been a huge upturn when you consider the five previous meetings to those since Crystal Palace were promoted back to the Premier League in 2013, resulted in five defeats by an aggregate score of 18 - 0!

And Crystal Palace could really fancy their chances of causing another upset here as they arrive in Manchester as one of the form sides in the league. And not just of late either. Since the end of October, they have collected the fifth most points in the league with just four defeats in 22 games.

Man City in-comparison have collected just the tenth most points in the same period having played a game more. It's no fluke either from Crystal Palace as based on expected points they've collected the fourth most. They've also made an FA Cup semi-final, developing a great winning mentality having tasted victory in 12 of their last 16 games across all competitions. It should however be noted that they were only underdogs in three of those 12 victories. 2-0 win at Man Utd at 15/4, 2-0 win at Fulham at 11/4 and 3-0 win at Fulham in the FA Cup at 2/1.

Omar's odds

Despite all that, it's difficult for me to be bold and say I want to oppose Man City/back Crystal Palace. For all of City's shortcomings this season, since that shock 4-0 home defeat by Spurs that started their poor season, they've still beaten Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Newcastle at home, third, fourth and five in the league, by scores of 3-0, 3-1 and 4-0 respectively.

So instead I want to avoid the match odds and focus on a £59M striker to do what he's in the team to do and that's to hit the target. Sounds straight forward doesn't it? I'm hoping it is.

Omar Marmoush is the man and he's 5/4 to have two or more shots on target. He's been a shot machine this season, shooting from absolutely everywhere, resulting in him averaging 4.4 shots per-90 for City and Frankfurt, with 1.6 coming from outside the area. He's hitting the target 1.9 times and since he's replaced Haaland in the starting XI, he's completed the 90 minutes in both games which is a plus, and put some great figures in.

Against Leicester at home, he had a huge nine shots with three on target, and away at Man Utd it was four shots, with another three on target. He's taking free-kicks and there's a good chance he's on penalties to further increase our chances. He's odds-on at just 4/5 for four or more shots, so getting 5/4 for only two to hit the target in-comparison looks the way to go.

Column P/L 2024/25

Recommended bets

Back 1pt Omar Marmoush To Have 2 Or More Shots On Target at 5/4

Ste Tudor's Build Up Tips:

Back Foden to have more shots than Eze

It has not been a vintage season for Philip Walter Foden, certainly in comparison to last time out when he won the FWA Footballer of the Year merit.

Injuries and mental fatigue have played a part, so too off-the-field problems, and though his performances in 2025 have been better than his underwhelming output across the opening months of the campaign it hardly amounts to a dramatic improvement.

We’re now seeing an echo of his former self rather than a shadow.

Yet throughout this troublesome period one trait has remained true, his love for taking on a shot.

The 24-year-old was arguably City’s worst player in last week’s drab Manchester derby but he still had two attempts on United’s goal, one from outside the box. An extended run of starts between mid-December and late-February meanwhile saw him average 2.6 attempts per 90.

That figure incidentally is slightly down on his overall average for 2024/25, that being 2.8, and though the midfielder’s 13.5% conversion rate doesn’t do his ‘Sniper’ nickname much justice it’s still superior to many players around him.

Bruno Fernandes for example boasts identical shooting stats but has a 10.1% conversion rate.

It’s certainly better than Eberechi Eze’s – a pitiful 2.3% - but of course it doesn’t matter if Foden is the more clinical of the two. What matters is who buys more proverbial raffle tickets this Saturday lunchtime at the Etihad.

In that regard, Eze comes to the fore, the winger averaging 3.7 attempts on goal per 90 this term. In a recent home game against Ipswich, the England international had six efforts on goal, half of which were speculative, from range.

Yet context is key here. For all of Palace’s excellent recent form, they are expected to be on the back-foot for the most part this weekend, protecting their second-string defence and relying on transitions.

Last season, City had 74% possession and restricted the visitors to just five shots, one of which was a penalty.

Acknowledging this puts Foden firmly in the driving seat.