As expected, City come away with all three points. Palace put in a spirited first-half performance but they were completely blown away in the second half by Silva and co. They will be furious about the disallowed goal and well they should as it was one of the worst decisions in quite some time and would have given them a glimmer of hope of getting something from the game. Thanks for all your emails and tweets and enjoy the rest of your weekend. Bye!
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Full-time: Manchester City 3-0 Crystal Palace
And that is that.
90 + 2 mins Nothing to see here, move along now folks.
90 mins Three minutes separate City from three points.
89 mins Some late subs. Nasri goes, Sinclair comes; Ledley follows Nasri and Bannan follows Sinclair.
Jimmy Armfield's "It's not quite happened for him," re Scott Sinclair's Man City career must be late contender for understatement of year.
— emmet malone (@emmetmalone) December 20, 2014
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88 mins “Zabaleta, Ivanovic and Lahm look good because they have nothing to do, defensively,” reckons John Dunn. “That’s why Zabaleta is smiling. They go upfield because they are bored standing around on the half way line. I like Janmaat, who has to pound back down the wing to make defensive plays, then pound back up to beat his opposite number and make a pinpoint cross.”
86 mins Jedinak gets an arm in the face from Fernandinho and is down on the ground, which gives us a quick break and time to enjoy this from Michael Owen.
Michael Owen: "Barcelona may not be be the team they were five, ten years ago, dominating Europe." 2004: Knocked out of UEFA Cup by Celtic
— dangerhere.com (@dangerhere) December 20, 2014
84 mins Some housekeeping. Milner got a yellow card a few minutes ago for a silly challenge and has since been replaced by Fernando. Palace have also made a sub with Puncheon coming off for Thomas.
Once the ball had left the box, Navas was set free. He galloped his way into the Palace half before picking out Milner wide on the left. Milner then fed Touré whose first touch was poor but whose second touch saw him absolutely thump the ball into the roof of the net leaving Speroni with no chance whatsoever.
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GOAL!!! Manchester City 3-0 Crystal Palace (Touré)
... and score.
79 mins City are back to stroking the ball around the pitch. Palace have hardly had a touch throughout this half but they do have a corner right now after Mangala cleared out a dangerous-looking Puncheon pass. Kolarov gets his head to the corner and City counter ...
77 mins Palace, well Bolasie actually, tries to relieve the City pressure and get something resembling an attack going. He strides forward and ... plays the ball right back to City. Ho hum. This one is done and dusted me thinks.
75 mins “Yes, Zabaleta is good,” says Charles Antaki. “But Philip Lahm is more subtle and more versatile – the fact that the can also play in midfield is a vote in favour, not against.”
73 mins City get a succession of corners. They do nothing with them.
72 mins “I would posit,” posits John Steciuk, “that Pablo Zabaleta is not only the best right back in the world, but also the nicest man: always got a chuckle on his face, no matter how muddy and scraped he inevitably gets. And at this festive time of year, isn’t that the most important thing?”
70 mins Just saw a replay of the disallowed goal. McArthur is about 4 foot onside. That is an absolute howler. Or to borrow my colleague John Ashdown’s phrase, the biggest howler since Teen Wolf.
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69 mins Off goes Silva to a standing ovation. On comes Lampard.
68 mins Gooooooooooooal .... eh no. Sorry. It isn’t, but it should be. Bolasie whips the ball into the back post from the right. It finds the head of McArthur and he puts it past Hart with a smart finish only for the linesman’s flag to go up. This is despite the fact that Fernandinho is quite clearly playing the Palace man onside.
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66 mins On comes Zaha (who is wearing gloves for the love of God). Off goes Campbell.
65 mins By the way, two more goal from City and they go top of the league.
64 mins “My fantasy football team has Zabaleta, Ivanovic, Clyne and Wisdom as its defence,” says Michael Brown. “Right backs are so in right now. Points say Ivanovic is best, reality says Zabaleta.”
From that aforementioned corner, City worked the ball out to the other side. It came to Kolarov, positioned near the corner flag in acres and acres of space, and he sent a quick one across the box. His effort finds the foot of Silva who directs the ball home.
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GOAL!!! Manchester City 2-0 Crystal Palace (Silva)
... Silva has his second goal of the game.
60 mins Silva and Nasri and Touré and Fernandinho stroke the ball around the Palace half. Palace can get nowhere near it. Eventually, Silva picks out the run of Navas who looks to do the same with Zabaleta. That he does but the full-back’s shot is blocked and goes for a corner. Never mind though as ...
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57 mins Question for you, yes you. Is Zabaleta the best right-back in the world right now?
56 mins City attack down the right as Navas speeds his way past the Palace defence. He cuts one across the box and Milner – the furthest City player forward – looks to take advantage of the indecision of Dann and Speroni but the keeper manages to clear the ball just in time.
54 mins Just saw a replay of the goal. It took a massive deflection of Dann’s legs and might just go down as an OG.
52 mins Corner to City. Nasri takes it long this time and it is flicked on but Touré can do nowt with it and Palace clear the danger.
Silva was the scorer but this was all about Zabaleta. He got the ball wide on the right and shifted it back to Touré. Touré found Fernandinho and Fernandinho found another great run from Zabaleta. He made his way into the box before showing good awareness and passing the ball back to Silva whose deflected shot founds its way over Speroni and into the net.
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GOAL!!! Manchester City 1-0 Crystal Palace (Silva)
There is the breakthrough.
47 mins City immediately get their passing game going. It ends with Kolarov putting the ball across the box and Dann putting the ball over the bar. Nasri takes the resulting corner short and City get back to some intricate passing. The ball comes back to Nasri and he works his way across the box, from left to right, to tee up Zabaleta. Speroni does well to hold onto his shot.
46 mins But there is an email to tell you about. It comes from the fingers of Matt Dony: “For a number of reasons, I have no great love for this Palace side, but Yannick Bolasie might just be my favourite player in the world at the moment. He’s like an even less refined Luis Garcia, in that he can be best player in history for about ten minutes a game, and a complete liability for the rest. In the ‘What’s he going to do next?’ stakes, probably more entertaining than Messi and Neymar combined.”
45 mins Here we go again. There is no sub news to tell you about just yet.
Half-time: Manchester City 0-0 Crystal Palace
That’s your lot for now. Back in a few minutes folks.
45 mins There is one more minute till we all get stuck into some half-time oranges.
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43 mins Oh my stars. This is wonderful from Touré. He gets the ball from Silva on the corner of the box. He then finds the outside-to-inside run of Zabaleta with a most perfect pass that completely dissects the Palace defence. Once with the ball, Zabaleta dinks it over the on-rushing Speroni but misses the post by a matter of inches.
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41 mins Turns out Puncheon was booked.
40 mins Puncheon does one on Nasri and somehow escapes a card. The crowd let Phil Dowd know that they are not down with that sort of thing.
38 mins Touré walks the ball out from the back to start a counterattack. City work their way down the left but the move comes to a close when Kolarov is correctly deemed to be in an offside position.
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36 mins Kolarov sticks the shoulder into Puncheon and gets the game’s first yellow card. The free-kick is sent straight down the middle, into the box and onto the head of Hangeland. His flick finds Bolasie who shoots from an impossible angle. His effort finds the side netting.
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34 mins Palace get some respite via a free-kick near the corner on the left. Bolasie whips it towards Campbell but the ball goes up in the air and Zabaleta then mis-kicks it out for a corner. That comes to nothing but another corner which Hart, eventually, deals with.
32 mins Pass, pass, pass at speed, speed, speed goes the ball around the Palace box. City are dizzying to watch right now. The mesmerising move comes to an end when Navas slows the move down by taking a touch and having his subsequent scooped pass headed clear from the six-yard box.
30 mins Kolarov falls over near the corner flag on the left. It looks like one of those challenges that some players make the most of but fair play to the full-back who gets right back up and carries on with the game.
27 mins A wonderful move on the left studded with flicks and tricks, as well as the skills of Touré and Kolarov, sets up the latter for a shot on goal but it comes to nothing.
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25 mins Nasri gets the ball at the corner of the box on the right. He tries to play a one-two with Silva but instead plays one with the shin of a Palace defender. Nasri doesn’t care too much about that as he twinkle-toes his way towards goal. On the end line he does a drag-back before tapping the ball into the path of Silva. The Spainard’s shot is deflected wide from a few yards out and City do nothing with the corner.
23 mins Speaking of Touré, some neat football from Silva and Milner finds him free on the edge of the box. His shot finds row z.
22 mins Another free-kick to Palace in almost exactly the same position. Jedinak, once more, dinks it towards the back post but Yaya Touré – who has been very quiet today – clears the danger, first via his head and then via his boot.
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20 mins Bolasie is taken down near the centre circle. The resulting free-kick finds its way into the area. A game of head tennis ensues until Bolasie finds Campbell and Campbell finds the ball with a spectacular over-head kick that goes narrowly wide.
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18 mins Corner to Palace after Demichelis booted it out of play under pressure. Puncheon takes and Hart fumbles, leaving Mangala to clear up his mess. His clearance finds Milner wide on the wide and he pounds his way up the wing before running out of steam.
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16 mins Turns out there are two typos in that team-sheet. There but for the grace etc, etc. Meanwhile, Bolasie has just skipped through the City defence and cut a dangerous ball across the box that forced Hart to get low and palm it away from danger.
14 mins City stroke their way around the Palace half until Kelly does one on Miler wide on the left about 10 or 15 yards from the corner of the box. Tis a soft one. Nasri stands over and works a training ground move with Silva. That doesn’t quite come off but the ball does come back to Nasri. He shoots wide once more.
12 mins Anyone out there? Or are you all to busy, panic buying?
10 mins Silky Silva has loads of space on the inside right slot and plays a lovely, little weighted ball to Zabaleta. His cross is cut out for a corner. Said corner finds its way to Kolarov but there is nothing he can do with it except direct it out for a Palace goal-kick.
8 mins City get their attack on and play some lovely intricate football on the edge of the area, channeling Barcelona as they do so. Palace close down the space they want to play in and push City back. The move comes to an end when Fernandinho sends the ball into orbit.
7 mins Silva handles the ball – in the opinion of the referee (it actually hit his ribs) – in the centre circle and it is a free to Palace. They send the big men up and Dann launches one long. City send it out but it only goes as far as Puncheon. He puts his foot through the ball but Silva gets in the way.
5 mins The City crowd are whisper quiet. Is it always this bad at the Etihad?
4 mins City get their first attack of the game. Silva picks the ball up wide on the right, near the corner of the box. He touches the ball into the path of Zabaleta who is doing his overlap thing. The full-back, on the end line, cuts the ball back for Nasri who connects well with the pass but the Frenchman screws his shot wide of Speroni’s post.
2 mins Zabaleta goes through the back of Bolasie and Palace get an early free-kick wide on the left. That is sent into the box and soon sent out for a corner. Palace whip that over but City deal with it easily enough.
1 min Off we go then. Palace get us started playing right to left. Off we go with the emails too. “I see the typo,” eagle-eyes James Edun. “It’s Scott Sinclair isn’t it? Didn’t he used to be some kind of striker, or at least a footballer?”
Here comes the teams, here come some naughty words in the tunnel, here comes the roar of the crowd and here comes the handshakes. City are draped in their sky blue while Crystal Palace parade about in their red and blue striped number. Least we forget, should City win by four or more today, they shall be number No1 in the league. Good for them, eh?
False nine is right.
364 - James Milner's last Premier League goal came on 21st December 2013 (versus Fulham), 364 days ago. Deployed.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 20, 2014
Spot the typo on the team-sheet time:
City-Palace teamsheet pic.twitter.com/zIUBh3emNs
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) December 20, 2014
In honour of the visit of the Eagles, it being Christmas (almost) and (probably) the John Lewis ad. There were some penguins enjoying themselves outside the Etihad.
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Dramatis personæ
Manuel Pellegrini has opted against starting José Ángel Pozo and instead decided on what looks to be a false 9 approach. Up front, expect plenty of bobbing and weaving and ducking and diving and rotation and, eh, James Milner playing centre forward. Pellegrini has also exercised his right to ring the changes from the side that faced Leicester with Zabaleta, Demichelis, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Navas and the aforementioned Milner all coming into the team. For Palace, there is but one change with Campbell – who bagged himself some goals against City last season – coming in for the hamstrung Chamakh. Those teams in full then are as follows:
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Mangala, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Navas, Yaya Touré, Silva, Nasri, Milner. Subs: Caballero, Boyata, Sagna, Fernando, Lampard, Ambrose, Sinclair.
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Kelly, Dann, Hangeland, Ward, Puncheon, Jedinak, Ledley, McArthur, Bolasie, Campbell. Subs: Hennessey, Mariappa, Delaney, Bannan, Thomas, Gayle, Zaha.
Referee: P Dowd
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Ages ago, before the bad movies and the worse HBO programmes, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant did a radio show on XFM with the then (relatively) unknown radio producer, Karl Pilkington. The show had various hooks, like Rockbusters (“I was in Texas, I landed on my knees in a puddle. WH”); monkey news, (“ .... so, he’s walkin’ upright, he’s havin’ a tea in the morning, finishing the day off with brandy”); and Educating Ricky. And it is with the Educating Ricky section – the part of the show where Pilkington tried to teach Gervais an interesting fact – that this morning’s preamble is concerned. Under the headline, Get a lobe of this, Pilkington told Gervais about a girl who had been deaf for four years until one day when she was arguing with her mother. The argument got heated and the mother pushed the daughter’s head off the wall with the unexpected result that the daughter’s hearing was restored. After an awkward pause, but before mass laughter broke out, Pilkington explained that there was no explanation for what had happened. In other words, it was a miracle.
Ah yes, miracles. That’s what that long-winded, opening paragraph was getting to. Miracles, miracles, miracles. And to put it bluntly, a miracle is exactly what Crystal Palace are going to need today if they want to leave the Etihad with a spring in their step and three points to place under the Christmas tree next to the sock-shaped present from the sock-giving aunt. Given that it is Christmas, you’ve probably been busy over the last few weeks, what with the presents that need wrapping and the alcohol that needs necking, and so you probably haven’t noticed that Palace have been pants of late. In fact, scratch that. Palace have been pants for a few months now. Since the 2-0 win over Leicester in late September, they have played 10 games and only returned with one win – and that was against Liverpool and sure even Manchester United are beating them these days. That win was also at home. Away from Selhurst Park, they have but one win to their name all season and that came way back when in September against Everton – only Swansea, Leicester, Burnley and QPR have fewer points on the road this term time. Mix that up with the fact that City are in the sort of form that has seen them win their last five league games and find the back of the net in 13 successive matches and you see why there is a need for a miracle.
Neil Warnock seems to think that it will come with the opening of wallets and the January transfer window, a line he has been pushing every time he steps to the mic. But will the Palace hierarchy even let him get within sniffing distance of the moolah? Famously, this is a manager who is good at getting sides promoted but is not so good at keeping them there. Despite having almost the same squad as was available to Tony Pulis, his team are lacking that solidity that the latter brought, not to mention that ability to eek out those impressive 1-0 wins, and that aforementioned 10-game run (a run which contained six teams that Palace beat at one stage last season) has seen the Eagles take a tumble from 9th to but a point above the relegation zone. Would you trust this manager with your millions? Tony Fernandes certainly didn’t and the decision to hire Mark Hughes proved to be a sound one. Speaking of Warnock, he recently revealed that he instead of commuting from Cornwall every day or buying land in London, he rents a flat in a modern building near Copers Cope Road on a short-term let. He is clearly sensitive to how short-term this managerial game can be.
As for City, with seven wins from seven games they seem to have got over their quarter-season crisis, if not their injury crises. Manuel Pellegrini has said that Sergio Agüero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic are all injured for today’s game. That means Pellegrini may have to go with 18-year-old José Ángel Pozo for the second consecutive game, which makes you question the wisdom of pointing Álvaro Negredo in the direction of the door marked ‘do one’ last summer, even if his new-year form stank worse than boiled Brussels sprouts. They will also have to do without their captain, Vincent Kompany. “Vincent is recovering from both of his injuries, his hamstring and his calf. He is improving but he is not fit,” said Pellegrini. All of that might just give Palace hope that miracles do happen. Stayed tuned to find out if they do. Team news and 90 minutes of hot! hot! hot! footballing action are on their way.
Kick-off: 12.45pm
