Three things we learned about Crystal Palace in 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest ahead of FA Cup final

By Alessandro Schiavone

They won't get as many chances against City

For all Man City's struggles this term, there is still a gigantic chasm between them and aspiring FA Cup winners Crystal Palace.

Despite failing to lay a glove in Liverpool in the title race and a play-off elimination at the hands of Real Madrid in the Champions League, Pep Guardiola's resurgent side are still high society in English football.

And their seven wins in the last nine appearances across all competitions reflect that they are on their way back. This is possibly the worst possible time for the Eagles to face the Etihad giants.

Oliver Glasner has the weapons to cause Man City all sorts of problems on the break and from set-pieces. But in front of goal they have to be better than they were against Nottingham Forest when huge chances through Lacroix, Nkethiah, Muñoz and Eze went begging. With Ederson no longer the force he was in the past between the sticks, they have a chance of finding the back of the net if they turn up with a refined finishing touch at Wembley.

They already fired twice past Man City in the league one month ago and three against Aston Villa in the semis at Wembley. Combine the two and they could go one better than in 1990 and 2016.

Eze and Guehi to leave on a high?

It won't be their last outing for Crystal Palace with two league games against Wolverhampton and Liverpool still following. But the two coveted Eagles stars could succeed where club legends Ian Wright, Andy Gray, Mark Bright, Nigel Martyn and Wilfried Zaha failed by lifting FA Cup. The pair are reportedly expected to quit Selhurst Park at the end of this campaign. And there's no better way than doing so with a major trophy in their hands. They looked at their inspirational best against Nuno Espirito Santos' men. At the time of writing the duo will go down as among the best to ever grace Selhurst Park. But beat Man City and the tag 'club legend' will follow them well beyond their playing career.

High line... City would cash in on

Palace can't afford to defend as high against a club with a medal collection to rival a museum like Man City and who know how to win finals. On Monday night Nottingham Forest cut through the hosts like a knife through butter on a couple of occasions. And only a Dean Henderson super save kept out Elanga's shot on the stroke of half-time. Do that against Guardiola's devastating attacking side and there will be no European football on offer in south London next term. Dean Henderson can't always bail out his side like he did three days ago.