Manchester City host Crystal Palace on Saturday, and face a difficult decision over who to start up front.

José Ángel Pozo started for Manchester City last week against Leicester after Edin Dzeko managed to injure himself in the warm up. Despite making some good runs, he is clearly better suited to the role of second striker, being more in the mold of Stevan Jovetic than Edin Dzeko.

There were rumors earlier this week that Manuel Pellegrini may trial James Milner in a more forward false number 9 role, but surely there are limits even to Milner’s ability to play just about anywhere on the pitch.

it’s clear that City need a focal point to base their movement around going forward

After taking Pozo off last week, Manchester City essentially converted to a 4-6-0 formation, with play-makers Nasri and Silva alternating in more forward positions. Milner also added a bit of drive to the attack, but it’s clear that City need a focal point to base their movement around going forward.

Having Sergio Aguero, Stevan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko all out at the same time is obviously partly down to bad luck, but also a bit of shortsightedness in terms of squad depth, particularly if you are going to be playing two at the same time. In the long-term you would hope that this will lead to a bit more squad depth in the position to prevent this kind of mild panic at a particularly busy time of the season.

Manchester do have certain EDS players who fit more into a lone striker system, Jordi Hiwula and Thierry Ambrose immediately spring to mind. However, it is highly unlikely that Pellegrini will swap one young prospect for another at this stage. Realistically, it’s more likely that Pellegrini will play striker less against Crystal Palace.

What has worked previously for Manchester City has been pushing Yaya Toure into a more attacking position. A midfield two of Fernando and Fernandinho would provide the defensive basis for this, and with Silva and Nasri both likely to start, City would not be devoid of options and chances with this formation.