Without Haaland, Man City face Crystal Palace and these are the starting lineups

Manchester City have had two sides this season. In the Champions League they were one of two teams, along with Real Madrid, that won every game they played. They dominated Group G and had no problems beating RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys, and confirmed that they are one of the main favorites to win Europe's most important title.

But in the Premier League things have not been so easy. The Citizens were leaders of the standings for a few weeks, but suffered some defeats that prevented them from holding on to the top spot. However, last weekend they got an important victory against Luton Town that allowed them to get closer to the first place, taking advantage of Arsenal's defeat. They are now 4 points behind the new leaders, Liverpool.

For this Saturday's match against Crystal Palace at Etihad Stadium, Manchester City will have an important challenge: to replace Erling Haaland. The Norwegian striker, top scorer of the team and the league, has an ankle problem and was not called up by Pep Guardiola. His place as center-forward will be taken by Julian Alvarez.

The Citizens' lineup will be: Ederson; Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Josko Gvardiol; Rodri, Rico Lewis; Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish; Julian Alvarez. In addition, substitutes will be Stefan Ortega, Manuel Akanji, John Stones, Kalvin Phillips, Sergio Gomez, Matheus Nunes, Oscar Bobb, Mahamadou Susoho and Mateo Kovacic.

The Eagles also need to win

Crystal Palace are not having a good season. They are in 16th place in the standings with 16 points and their situation is difficult: they are not far from the relegation zone, where Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United are for now. That's why they need a win to move away from danger. Coach Roy Hodgson chose this XI: Dean Henderson; Nathaniel Clyne, Joel Ward, Joachim Andersen, Marc Guehi, Tyrick Mitchell; Michael Olise, Jairo Riedewald, Chris Richards, Jeffrey Schlupp; Jean-Philippe Mateta.