---
title: "Crystal Palace: Matt Woosnam expects possible team change v Man City"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/crystal-palace-matt-woosnam-floats-possible-change-vs-man-city-patrick-vieira-wilfried-zaha-jean-philippe-mateta/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "David Comerford"
section: "Crystal Palace News"
published: "2022-03-14T12:36:07Z"
modified: "2022-03-14T12:36:07Z"
---

# Crystal Palace: Matt Woosnam expects possible team change v Man City

**Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira could start Wilfried Zaha up front against Manchester City on Monday night, according to [The Athletic](https://theathletic.com/3177634/2022/03/14/crystal-palace-fans-discuss-the-man-city-game-with-our-reporter-matt-woosnam/)‘s Matt Woosnam.**

### The lowdown

The 11th-placed Eagles are looking to complete an unlikely double over the Premier League leaders under the lights at Selhurst Park tonight.

Last time out, in the 2-0 victory away to Wolves, Vieira deployed Zaha in the left-wing role in a [4-2-3-1 formation](https://www.sofascore.com/crystal-palace-wolverhampton/dsh). It was Jean-Philippe Mateta who led the line and opened the scoring for Palace midway through the first half at Molineux.

\[freshpress-quiz id=”389047″\]

### The latest

Ahead of tonight’s match against Pep Guardiola’s side, Woosnam was asked by one of [The Athletic](https://theathletic.com/3177634/2022/03/14/crystal-palace-fans-discuss-the-man-city-game-with-our-reporter-matt-woosnam/)‘s subscribers, who floated the possibility of Zaha playing up front,  whether Vieira would change a winning team.

In response to that suggested tactical tweak from the manager, the journalist replied: “I think he will, but mainly because it’s Man City. Wonder if Zaha plays up top with Olise wide right.”

### The verdict

Zaha has started as a centre forward [on four occasions](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/wilfried-zaha/leistungsdaten/spieler/145988) this season, including in the reverse fixture when Palace won 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium in October. Odsonne Edouard and Jordan Ayew [started either side of him](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-city_crystal-palace/index/spielbericht/3591975) that day, and perhaps that will be the blueprint that Vieira looks to follow for tonight.

If the Ivory Coast international is moved to a centre-forward role, that could see Mateta being sacrificed. It would be slightly harsh to drop the [£53.4k-per-week](https://www.spotrac.com/epl/crystal-palace/payroll/) Frenchman to the bench given that he has scored in [four of his last seven starts](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jean-philippe-mateta/leistungsdaten/spieler/420002) across all competitions, but the hope may be that he can still unsettle the Manchester City defence if he is called upon as a substitute.

**In other news, [read this journalist’s update on James McArthur](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/crystal-palace-news/crystal-palace-journalist-relays-james-mcarthur-update/)**