7 December 2024
Crystal Palace 2 Man City 2
Crystal Palace welcomed Man City to Selhurst Park, looking to extend the gap between themselves and the bottom three in the table. The visitors had managed to end their woeful run without wins when they beat Nottingham Forest in midweek. Oliver Glasner’s side were going to have to be on top of their game to get anything from this one.
Pep Guardiola’s side had lost their last five away games in all competitions. Not the sort of form we are used to seeing from sides managed by the Spaniard. It was a wet and blustery day in the capital, not that the Palace fans would notice soon. It was a scrappy start with neither side able to take control of possession.
Gundogan lost the ball near the touchline. Hughes picked it up and played it into Mateta. The pair combined before the midfielder threaded a ball in behind the defence for Munoz. He ran onto it and drilled his shot past Ederson and into the goal. It had taken all of four minutes for Pep’s defence to be breached in the capital.
Man City had hoped VAR would save them but it confirmed that Walker had played Munoz onside. It is not proving to be a season to remember for the right-back. His pace seems to have left him and he is getting exposed more and more. Although that could be said of the entire City defence and not even Rodri could rectify that.
De Bruyne was starting his second game in four days after coming back from injury. He was as integral as ever for the defending champions. He slotted a ball into Haaland, the Norwegian did everything right but Henderson made a fantastic block to deny him. If Man City had been in any doubt over how difficult of an afternoon this would be, they now knew.
The visitors were controlling possession and putting the hosts under immense pressure. Gundogan shot from the edge of the box, only to see his effort come back off the post. It dropped to Savinho who tried to bend one in the top corner but narrowly missed. He has not made the impact many had hoped he would since his arrival in Manchester.
On the rare occasion that Crystal Palace came forward, they were stretching the City defence. Eze crossed from the right to pick out Mateta, he showed great composure deftly laying it into the path of Lerma. It seemed a goal was certain but a superb sliding tackle from Dias blocked his effort. So close to the hosts doubling their lead.
Nunes then cut inside onto his right foot out wide. He swung a cross into the box and Haaland rose above everyone to head into the far corner. At this point you felt Man City had broken the seal and a deluge of goals was imminent. They headed in at the interval level, although both teams will have felt they could have been more clinical in front of goal.
Dias was keeping Man City in this game. Once again The Eagles pushed forward and Hughes looked to shoot from the edge of the box but the Portuguese centre-back got an all-important block in again. It was at the expense of a corner but the visitors usually dominate sides in the air. That said, things were far from ‘business as usual’ at The Etihad right now.
As the corner was whipped in, Lacroix got up in the middle to head home. He dominated Walker in the air and Ederson had no chance of keeping the effort out. Selhurst Park was bouncing and it can be an intimidating atmosphere when these fans are behind their team. This game was definitely there to be won for the hosts.
Crystal Palace then seemed to switch off after the referee awarded a drop-ball. De Bruyne played it into the feet of Bernardo Silva. He showed great vision to spot the run of Lewis. He took it in his stride and drilled it into the top corner to draw the visitors level. The Eagles had managed to hold onto their lead for all of twelve minutes.
Man City tried to turn the screw but Palace were holding firm. The visitors were getting more frustrated and Lewis shown a yellow card for dissent. Guardiola’s side knew that a draw meant more dropped points and they could ill-afford this. With Liverpool’s game against Everton postponed, this was a chance to close the gap at the top.
Bernardo Silva then dribbled it into the box but could not work an opportunity to get a shot off. Instead he laid it into the path of Savinho, whose first-time shot was well saved by Henderson, despite it taking a deflection on the way through. The visitors were not looking their clinical selves up top and you wondered whether this poor run had damaged them mentally.
As Palace looked to clear the ball, Lewis slid in for a late challenge on Chalobah. The referee had no hesitation and showed the youngster a second yellow card. Despite his protests, he was giving his marching orders. A difficult challenge had just got tougher for Man City. The replay showed it was a very harsh decision, the Palace defender actually seemed to kick Lewis.
Crystal Palace held on for a point to put a four-point gap between them and the bottom three. This was a terrible result for Man City as they handed Liverpool the chance to extend their lead at the top of the table to 11 points once again. It seems that the midweek victory was not the turning point for the champions to get back to their old selves.
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