Man City need to break Premier League cycle at Crystal Palace ahead of Liverpool clash

Manchester City come across something rare on Monday night: a Premier League team that has taken points off them this season. Crystal Palace beat them 2-0 at the Etihad in October, making them one of just four teams in the division to avoid defeat.

Pep Guardiola's side have raised the standard in the Premier League, lifting the number of points required to win the title well into the 90s. With 10 games to go in this campaign, the same rings true as they battle it out with Liverpool again.

While City have only dropped points against four teams this season, the signs so far have been that teams who have had success against them have been able to replicate that. Do it once and it is easier to do it again.

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In some respects that is understandable, given the confidence that will come from taking points off a team that can seem unbeatable before a ball is kicked. Yet the response of a team who hates dropping points must also be taken into account, and City under Guardiola really hate it.

That is what makes their record this season peculiar. Tottenham beat City on the opening day of the campaign and then, under very different circumstances, stunned them recently at the Etihad.

Southampton held the Blues to a goalless draw at the Etihad and were unfortunate to have a penalty overturned in that game, before claiming a 1-1 draw at St Mary's where VAR was more in their favour. Those two performances have not exactly eased City nerves for their FA Cup quarter-final.

Together, Spurs and Southampton account for 10 of the 15 points City have dropped all season in the league. That amounts to two sides responsible for two-thirds of all dropped points.

The good