Fernandinho sorely missed in Palace loss

PEP Guardiola was perhaps guilty of over-complicating things against Crystal Palace.

With Fernandinho out, he risked John Stones in midfield after he performed respectably in the role against Leicester in the previous game.

But the Premier League is a different proposition to the Carabao Cup and Fernandinho’s presence was sorely missed.

For City’s league meeting with Leicester today, Guardiola is unlikely to go with Stones in midfield again should Fernandinho miss out.

Then there is a decision to make over Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero. Both are returning from injury and given the hectic Christmas schedule, Guardiola would normally be tempted to ease them both back to action to ensure they are in premium shape going into the New Year.

But with Liverpool four points ahead at the top of the table, Guardiola may be forced to go with the strongest side he has available.

Kyle Walker struggled against Palace, giving away the crucial third goal by lunging into a tackle in the box. With Danilo back to fitness, the Brazilian should come in at right back. Stones has played two consecutive games in midfield but should drop back to central defence alongside Aymeric Laporte with Nicolas Otamendi back on the bench. Predicted City XI: Ederson; Danilo, Stones, Laporte, Delph; Fernandinho, Gundogan, Bernardo; Mahrez, Sterling, Aguero. CITY must find a response this afternoon after suffering a surprise loss to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola’s side find themselves four points off top spot in the Premier League after a difficult December that has seen them suffer their first major setbacks of the season.

Despite the many, many highs of the last campaign, there were a number of times the would-be Centurions needed to regroup and go again on their way to a league and cup double. As City look for the right reaction on today at Leicester, here is how they responded last season to unexpected results.

Shakhtar 2-1 City City were not too distraught to be defeated by Shakhtar given they put out such a scratch team, but this game still represented the first defeat of the season in any competition.

The response in the Manchester derby was emphatic. A storming performance left Jose Mourinho’s bus in tatters as the Blues passed their way to a dominant victory at Old Trafford to hammer home their Premier League dominance.

Palace 0-0 City Roy Hodgson’s team were also the scourge of City last season, earning a 0-0 draw that ended a run of 18 straights victories in the league for Guardiola’s exhausted side.

Just two days later, they picked themselves up as Raheem Sterling scored against Watford inside the opening minute and a second was added before 15 minutes were on the clock.

Liverpool 4-3 City City’s first Premier League defeat of the season came at Anfield, so what impact would such a reckoning have on the league leaders? An efficient 3-1 win over Newcastle kept their lead at the top to 12 points, with Sergio Aguero scoring a hattrick to keep up his remarkable record against the north-east side.

With 65 points on the board, Guardiola declared that his side needed 10 wins from their remaining 14 games to be champions. Burnley 1-1 City - A game that saw the Blues low on energy and low on quality, with Danilo’s wonderstrike cancelled out with a deserved Burnley equaliser minutes from time.

After a few days recharging as a group in Abu Dhabi, City returned with a 5-1 win over Leicester. Sterling scored after three minutes and, although Jamie Vardy’s effort meant the teams went in level at the break, Aguero scored four times for a convincing win. Wigan 1-0 City - This date marked the end of all mention of the quadruple for the season as the League One side beat City for the third FA Cup meeting in six years. Six days later, Guardiola was lifting his first trophy as Blues boss after a 3-0 win over Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final. It wasn’t a thrilling performance but it was still more than enough to beat Arsene Wenger’s side, and they put on a masterclass three days later at the Emirates for good measure. City 1-2 Basel - A defeat that appeared to matter little at the time but marked the beginning of the end for another season in City’s attempt to conquer Simon Bajkowski Europe was swiftly followed by Stoke away in the Premier League.

Liverpool 3-0 City - Arguably the worst performance of the season - and certainly the worst result - came days before the derby.

As Fabian Delph infamously articulated, they forgot to do the basics and suffered a humbling 3-2 reversal that silenced the party atmosphere.

City 2-3 United - Liverpool were up days later at the Etihad, and the response was exactly what the manager wanted.

An early goal brought them back into the tie and Leroy Sane looked to really tee them up for the second half... only for the goal to be wrongly ruled out, Guardiola to be sent off for protesting and City to slump to a third successive defeat.

City 1-2 Liverpool Dumped out of Europe and having blown the chance to win the title in record time against their fiercest rivals, it looked like some of the gloss had been taken off a team that had looked outstanding for so long.

What followed at Wembley was perfect, with a 3-1 win in a dominant performance reminding everyone why City were so far ahead in the league. With United’s home defeat to West Brom a day later, the league was won.