Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas has predicted a big win for Man City at Crystal Palace this weekend while believing Liverpool will slip up at Man Utd.
The Merseyside giants have been brilliant so far this season as they have continuously found a way to win and have in turn rattled off eight consecutive victories.
SEE MORE: Good news for Man City: Guardiola gets injury boost as key man returns to training
City haven’t been able to keep up with that pace as they’ve already slipped eight points behind their Premier League title rivals, and so Pep Guardiola will know that they can’t afford any more setbacks and must put pressure on Liverpool to keep winning.
Nicholas believes that gap will be cut this weekend as although Jurgen Klopp takes his in-form side to Man Utd who have struggled badly so far this season, he is seemingly convinced that the hosts will dig in at Old Trafford and hold out for a share of the spoils.
“This is do or die for United and a day of credibility for them to try and get a point, which I think they will do. They will scrap and sit in, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knows that – they will not play expansively here,” he wrote in his Sky Sports column.
“Man Utd will not want to get beat and walk away. This is a ‘parking the bus’ kind of game, in which they cannot take a risk. If they get beat and Liverpool embarrass them, then it could spell even more danger for Solskjaer.”
With that in mind, he has gone for a 1-1 draw and has tipped Man City to canter to a 5-1 win over Palace at Selhurst Park as he believes that the thought of being able to put pressure on Liverpool will spur Guardiola’s men on and see them run out comfortable winners.
Time will tell if things go the way that Nicholas has predicted, as while City picking up three points this weekend is certainly plausible, it’s difficult to see anything other than a Liverpool win given how poor United have looked so far this season especially in front of goal as it raises question marks over how they’ll find a way through the Liverpool defence.
United have scored just nine goals in eight league games, and they come up against a side which has conceded just six goals in eight outings.
