Tony Pulis named an unchanged line-up as Palace went about trying to dramatically upset the odds at the Etihad Stadium.
Palace have not recorded a win in this fixture since 1990 and have failed to score more than one goal on their travels since their top flight return, although they did win at Aston Villa on Boxing Day.
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini made six changes to his starting line-up.
Yaya Toure and Alvaro Negredo were amongst those on the bench, with Edin Dzeko leading City's attack and Dedryck Boyata starting his first Premier League game for the club since May 2011.
Man City: Hart, Boyata, Kompany, Nastasic, Clichy, Fernandinho, Javi Garcia, Jesus Navas, Silva, Milner, Dzeko. Subs: Lescott,Nasri, Negredo, Kolarov, Rodwell, Pantilimon, Toure.
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Delaney, Mariappa, Gabbidon, Parr, Puncheon, Ward, Bannan, Jedinak, Bolasie, Jerome. Subs: Campana, Phillips, Gayle, Jonathan Williams, Moxey, Chamakh, Price.
