FULL TIME: Manchester City 5-0 Crystal Palace
And that’s that! City were rampant pretty much from the get-go. They should have scored more than one in a dominant first-half display; they certainly made up for that in the second period. They go into third, four goals better off than Liverpool, who have been nudged down to fourth. Champions League football next season is now within touching distance. As for Palace, safety is not yet guaranteed. Wins for Hull and Swansea later on would seriously turn up the pressure; the game between Palace and Hull at Selhurst next week now looms large. The business end of the season promises to be very interesting indeed; City have found some sparkling form at just the right time!
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GOAL! Manchester City 5-0 Crystal Palace (Otamendi 90+2)
Sterling turns on the jets and very nearly tears clear down the left. He’s clipped by Delaney and tries to stay up, but can’t keep his balance and the defender is booked. De Bruyne curls the free kick in from the wing. Otamendi, bombing in from the right, meets the ball on the penalty spot and powers a header into the top left. This is now officially a rout.
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90 min +1: The corner’s swung in. Otamendi heads over. The whistle goes anyway for a bit of shoving.
90 min: Clichy wins another City corner down the right. There will be three added minutes. De Bruyne trots over to take the set piece.
89 min: The excellent Zaha drives down the right and is clipped by a tiring Sterling. From the free kick, Zaha makes off down the wing and whistles a wonderful ball across the face of the six-yard box. There’s nobody there in yellow to convert. The cross deserved better. McArthur tries to revive the move with a dribble down the left, but he runs the ball out of play.
88 min: Sterling races with great determination down the left, earning a corner off Puncheon. De Bruyne takes. Delaney blasts clear. Everyone watching the clock now, for differing reasons.
86 min: Lee and Flamini combine well down the right, but the latter’s cross is scooped away by Otamendi. Palace, to their credit, have never stopped trying; they’ve just been outclassed by a City side determined to close in on a Champions League place.
84 min: The bulk of the work done, City make a double switch, Sane and Jesus making way for Iheanacho and Navas.
83 min: Jesus makes off down the left and sends a low cross into the Palace area. Bedlam. Sterling nearly converts at the far post. The ball squirts towards De Bruyne, who misses the target. City are running rampant.
GOAL! Manchester City 4-0 Crystal Palace (Sterling 82)
This is simple but pretty to watch and so sweet. Toure, down the left, swings a ball deep to Zabaleta, near the byline to the right of the Palace goal. Zabaleta heads backwards and down, and Sterling meets the dropping ball crisply, sending a glorious first-time shot into the bottom right! City have been magnificent today. The only question is how they’ve only scored four!
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81 min: Zabaleta has time and space to consider his options down the right. He eventually drops a shoulder and smashes a low shot towards the bottom right, but Hennessey is able to deal with it.
80 min: Ward is down receiving treatment having taken an accidental smack in the coupon. He’ll be fine, but he needs to change his shirt as he’s been leaking blood from the nose, and has a couple of clumps of cotton wool sticking out of his nostrils.
78 min: There’s a sense that both clubs would be happy to hear the final whistle now. An almost total lack of urgency, and it’s jiggered the atmosphere a bit. Strange, because City have a chance to further boost their goal difference here; it’s tight in the chase for a top-four place, and you never know, goals could be crucial when it all comes down.
76 min: Delaney comes on for Kelly.
74 min: City pass it around in the pretty style for a few minutes. First Zabaleta tries to find Sterling on the penalty spot from the right. Not quite. Then Fernandinho curls one in from a deep position on the same wing. Sane, coming in from the left, meets it first time and attempts to guide it into the bottom right. Nice idea, but poor execution, as the ball flies miles wide right.
72 min: A couple of corners follow. Some head tennis. We move on.
71 min: Benteke, Zaha and McArthur shimmy and flick their way down the middle of the park. Zaha, to the right of the D, tries to find McArthur free on the penalty spot. McArthur slips at the crucial moment, but the ball breaks back to Flamini, who sends a looping, deflected shot goalwards. Caballero, backtracking furiously, is forced to tip over.
69 min: Corner for Palace down the left, their first of the match. Lee whips it towards Benteke, but Zabaleta heads clear with Benteke and Kelly lurking.
68 min: ... and then Silva is given a rest, with Zabaleta coming on in his stead.
67 min: Milivojevic is replaced by Flamini ...
66 min: Sane very nearly works space to shoot to the right of goal, but is closed down so juggles the ball awhile instead.
64 min: Zaha exchanges passes with Benteke and goes racing down the inside-left channel. For a second it looks as though he’s going to break clear on goal, but Otamendi steps across to cover and is clattered for his trouble. Better from Palace, though it’s all far too late.
62 min: Sane is found in acres down the left by De Bruyne. He skelps a high cross through the area at speed; it nearly takes poor Jesus’s head clean off. A bit too much on that one.
GOAL! Manchester City 3-0 Crystal Palace (De Bruyne 60)
This should wrap up the three points! Renowned target man Silva flicks a header on down the right. Jesus latches onto it and plays an instant ball inside for De Bruyne, who slots a fine effort into the bottom right from the right-hand edge of the D, the ball grazing Hennessey’s fingertips.
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59 min: Palace break upfield in an attempt to get something going. Zaha and Benteke one-two down the middle, but the passes are loose and momentum is lost.
58 min: Kelly gifts the ball to De Bruyne in the centre circle. The City man flies down the middle before slipping a pass to Sane on his outside. Sane creams one goalwards. Hennessey parries. De Bruyne shanks the rebound wide right, and though a deflection leads to a corner, the set piece comes to nothing.
57 min: The oddly quiet Townsend is replaced by Chung-Yong Lee.
55 min: Space for Fernandinho out on the right. He blasts a rising shot goalwards from a tight angle, but it’s blocked. The denizens of the City of Manchester Stadium are enjoying this now. As things stand, the Citizens are going third.
53 min: So close to a third for City! De Bruyne sends a power curl towards the top left. Hennessey is beaten all ends up, but the ball clips the top of the crossbar, just too high. A fine effort. City have started this half like they started the first. Can they pile on more goals this time?
52 min: De Bruyne looks to burst down the inside-left channel and is cynically bowled to the ground by Milivojevic. The Palace midfielder is booked. And this is a free kick in a dangerous position, 25 yards out, just to the left of goal.
51 min: De Bruyne probes down the left and earns a corner. The set piece leads to another corner out on the right. Kompany meets that second one with a header on the penalty spot. He sends the ball towards the bottom left, but it’s a wee bit wide. City were looking a little shaky in the few minutes before half time, but the old swagger is back now.
GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Crystal Palace (Kompany 49)
What a goal this is! De Bruyne’s first corner is dreadful, failing to clear the first man. But the ball’s recycled back out to him, and a player of his quality isn’t going to make the same mistake twice. He takes a touch, looks up, and slides a ball of great perfection towards Kompany, in space, 12 yards out and level with the right-hand post. Kompany meets it first time and lashes an unstoppable shot into the top right! City finally have the breathing space their overall play deserves.
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48 min: Sterling and Toure work away down the right and earn a corner. City load the box. And then...
And we’re off again! Palace get the ball rolling for the second half. City should really be out of sight, on balance of play, but they’re not. They try to right those wrongs early in the half as Kompany creams a long pass towards Jesus, but there’s a little too much juice on it. City come back at Palace again, Silva twisting this way and that down the inside-right channel, working space to shoot on the right-hand edge of the D. His low effort is pulled wide right. A suggestion that City might have been given a half-time blast by their manager.
Half-time reading: Some news and views from across the way.
HALF TIME: Manchester City 1-0 Crystal Palace
And that’s that, the end of a very entertaining half. City will wonder how they’re not miles out in front. But they let Palace grow into the game towards the end of the half. Their season in microcosm. It’s all set up for a fascinating second 45. Don’t go anywhere!
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45 min: Fernandinho is upended by Zaha as he looks to make ground down the right. Free kick. The City fans aren’t happy, because a few seconds earlier, Puncheon clattered into Sane as the winger crossed from the left, but the whistle didn’t go. The resulting free kick is plucked from the sky by Hennessey, and Zaha’s sent skittering down the left. De Bruyne and notorious hard man Silva take turns to send Zaha spinning, but again the whistle doesn’t go. On the touchline, Sam Allardyce delivers his own verdict in the Anglo-Saxon style.
43 min: Schlupp was fortunate not to be booked for a hysterical lunge on De Bruyne a few minutes ago. Now the roles are reversed, as De Bruyne pays him back with an agitated clip on the Palace man’s ankle. The referee tells both players to stop being so bloody stupid, grown men and all.
41 min: Otamendi fannies about with the ball at his feet, the last man, 40 yards from his own goal. He’s very nearly robbed by Benteke, and takes a clank on his tootsies for the trouble. He hops about in pain, but at least he’s not feeling the hot flush of embarrassment across his cheeks.
39 min: This has turned into a right odd game. Palace could be many goals behind. They could also be level. Milivojevic has space to shoot, 25 yards from goal. His effort is blocked but balloons to Van Aanholt out on the left. Van Aanholt attempts an ambitious screamer from a tight angle. It’s wide and high.
37 min: City respond with a couple of attacks. Sane, out on the right, swings deep for Jesus, who is palmed to the ground by Ward. There’s not much contact there, to be honest, but referees get whistle happy sometimes, and you’ve seen those given too. Then Silva romps into acres of space down the left. Strangely, nobody in blue bothers to buzz into space, and Silva’s eventual low cross, a percentage play with no options obvious, is snaffled by Hennessey.
36 min: Sane shoots from a tight angle on the left, but the effort is parried clear. Palace move upfield through Ward on the right. He crosses for Benteke, who rises and sends a header towards the bottom right. It’s saved brilliantly by Caballero and McArthur can’t convert the knockdown. But Palace are suddenly in this game!
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34 min: De Bruyne tries to break upfield, but Ward shoulders him off the ball and slips a pass down the left for Zaha, who enters the area. He should shoot, but looks for a yellow shirt in the middle instead. City clear again.
33 min: But then Fernandinho plays a loose ball in the midfield, and Zaha is able to skate down the left at speed. City are light at the back, so Kompany has to come over and step across his man. That’s a booking, one taken for the team. A free kick’s swung into the box, but Benteke can’t get anywhere near it. City clear.
32 min: Sane and Sterling take turns to batter shots at the Palace goal. Sane cuts in from the left. Batter! Hennessey parries. Sterling latches onto the rebound. Batter! Kelly hacks clear off the line. How on earth are City just the one goal ahead? Palace are struggling a bit here.
30 min: Breaking news: David Silva is rather good at football. He sashays in from the right wing, plays a wall pass off Sterling, and slips a pass down the channel and into the box for Jesus, who tries to whip a first-time effort across Hennessey and into the bottom left. Not quite. Such a good move to watch.
29 min: De Bruyne, gliding past three challenges on a left-to-right route, feeds Silva, whose immediate cushioned touch allows Silva to dribble into the area from the right wing. Silva can’t quite work space for a decent shot, falling backwards on the penalty spot and sending a wafter straight at Hennessey.
27 min: Toure, just inside the Palace half, has all the time in the world to size up a pass along the inside-left channel for De Bruyne. It’s lacking a couple of joules of energy, otherwise it’d have reached De Bruyne quicker and he’d have been clear on goal. But Kelly is able to barge him out of the way. City come straight back at Palace, Sane exchanging passes with Jesus down the left wing but running out of space before he can dig out a cross.
25 min: Silva’s relentless brilliance leads to a corner down the right. The ball’s worked all around the Palace area, and for a second it looks as though Jesus is going to dribble along the byline on the left and into the six-yard box. But the young star runs the ball out of play. Palace survive.
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23 min: Palace need to show in attack, if only to relieve the pressure on their defence. Puncheon goes on a curly walk down the left and loops to the far post where Benteke lurks, hoping to power a header goalwards. Kompany eyebrows the cross away from danger. That’s a little better from the visitors, though.
22 min: Silva drops deep on the left and this time he finds Sterling with a gorgeously weighted slide-rule pass. Sterling latches onto it by circumventing Ward on the outside and cutting into the box. He should shoot, facing Hennessey at an angle, but he opts to lay off for Jesus instead, and the young striker’s shot is blocked. Sterling should have taken that one on himself.
21 min: Silva jinks and jives down the left and very nearly flicks Sterling free down the channel and into the box. Palace just about manage to bundle the ball away from the danger zone.
19 min: Sane glides in from the right and makes space for a shot. He nearly finds the top-left corner ... of the stand behind the goal. Whoops. Hey, it happens to them all.
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18 min: This is extremely one-sided. Jesus drives hard at the Palace back line, and it takes three yellow shirts to crowd him out on the edge of the area. Then Sterling has a serious look down the left wing, but can’t quite wriggle free of Ward. City keep coming at Palace. A second goal, and soon, wouldn’t be a great surprise.
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16 min: It’s all City. A long period of possession. Sane slows down to a halt on the right, before cranking it up again and flicking the ball inside for Fernandinho, who bursts into the box and nearly finds Jesus in the middle with a flick of his boot. It’s just a corner, though, and nothing comes of that.
14 min: Van Aanholt surges down the left, which suggests he might be OK. Schlupp then tries to flick a ball inside for Benteke, but his pass is intercepted by Fernandinho and soon City are streaming upfield through Silva, who very nearly sets Sane free down the right. Not quite. City are playing with a lot of confidence, though. Peaking at the right time, perhaps, with that Champions League place in mind.
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12 min: Van Aanholt is down holding his leg. With the Palace squad already light on defenders, this is the last thing Sam Allardyce needs. He chews in manic fashion. Eventually his player gets up, and it looks like he’ll be OK to continue, at least for now. But that’ll worry the big man.
10 min: City have their tails up. Toure takes his turn to dictate play, flicking a pass down the inside-right channel for Fernandinho to run onto. Today’s right back has a dig from distance, sending a rising shot straight down Hennessey’s throat.
8 min: Silva looks in the mood. He dances down the left and earns a corner. Nothing comes of that, but he’s soon conducting affairs again, down the left again. The ball’s shuttled inside for Toure, who finds De Bruyne coming in from the right with a looping cross. De Bruyne meets it first time, and sends a screeching volley high and wide right. But it wasn’t too far away from the top corner. Marvellous ambition.
6 min: Van Aanholt pushes his way past Fernandinho on the left and flicks a ball inside for Zaha, who powers into the area. He’s trying to open his body to shoot from a tight angle, and goes to ground under a light Toure shove on the corner of the six-yard box. No penalty, and it would have been very, very generous, bordering on unfair. But you see them given sometimes, is all.
4 min: City look like they mean business today. Jesus makes off down the middle, latching onto a poor Zaha pass in the midfield. He’s upended by Kelly, who is booked for his cynicism. Not a good couple of minutes for him. City have a free kick in the centre circle, but would much rather have had the advantage, with Sane preparing to dribble with purpose at a backtracking Palace defence. Referee Michael Oliver is big enough to admit his mistake, nodding his head in sympathetic fashion.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Crystal Palace (Silva 2)
Silva’s back from injury, and it didn’t take him long to influence things again! He sits deep and scoops a ball down the inside-left for Sterling, who is free to the left of the six-yard box. Sterling hooks into the middle. Kelly heads poorly towards the penalty spot. Silva meets the dropping ball and slaps it into the bottom right. What a start!
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And we’re off! The astonishing youngster Gabriel Jesus gets the ball rolling for City. De Bruyne immediately makes good down the right but his cross is blocked by Van Aanholt. He had space and time there, with options in the middle, and should have done better. It would have been a ludicrously fast start, mind.
The teams are out! City in their famous sky blue, Palace in their second-choice yellow shirts with red-and-blue sash. We’ll be off in a minute, right here, right now, but in the meantime here’s Ian Copestake: “Poor Damien Delaney. His manager does not regard him as athletic, able to cope with mobile strikers and not the best in possession. Is he good at cards?” In fairness, Allardyce did also say his defence dealt reasonably well with “the big lad Sam Vokes” last weekend, so it’s swings and roundabouts. Top-class man-management. He should swing by Old Trafford after the match and advise Jose how to deal with Luke Shaw.
Sam Allardyce explains his team selection. “They have a very athletic, very small, very tricky front line, do Manchester City, and we have to be able to cope with that. Great mobility, good skills. So we’ve gone for the back lads being a bit more athletic and hopefully able to cope with that, and see what we can do when we have possession. Yeah, it’s Schlupp in central defence, Jeffrey Schlupp, that’s where he is.”
Pep Guardiola gives answers to various questions. We present them here in the non-sequitur style. “Yesterday afternoon I spoke to the physios who told me David Silva could play. He is not perfect, but he can play. He is quality, has personality, he helps us do what we want to do. Our front line is young and dynamic and quick. It is not easy to create chances against Crystal Palace, and they have dangerous players at set pieces. I don’t know why they do well against big teams, you’ll have to ask Sam Allardyce.”
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Manchester City give their starting XI a good shoogle after the disappointing draw at Middlesbrough last weekend. Aleksandar Kolarov and Jesus Navas drop to the bench, while the injured Sergio Aguero and Aleix Garcia are missing altogether. Called up: Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane, Yaya Toure and - a pleasant surprise for City this - David Silva.
Crystal Palace meanwhile make one change to the team named for the defeat against Burnley last Saturday. Jeff Schlupp comes in for Damien Delaney.
The teams
Manchester City: Caballero, Fernandinho, Kompany, Otamendi, Sterling, Toure, Silva, Clichy, De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Sane.
Subs: Sagna, Zabaleta, Fernando, Kolarov, Jesus Navas, Gunn, Iheanacho.
Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Ward, Kelly, Van Aanholt, Schlupp, McArthur, Milivojevic, Puncheon, Zaha, Christian Benteke, Townsend.
Subs: Speroni, Flamini, Remy, Campbell, Lee, Sako, Delaney.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).
Good morning!
It was only a couple of weeks ago when Crystal Palace were one of the form teams in the country. A run of six wins in eight matches, including victories over Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, was nothing short of sensational. It was well timed and much needed, too, as it dragged Sam Allardyce’s men out of the relegation mire. To safety? Well, nearly.
Times change, though, and Palace have lost their last two matches. Defeat at home to rampant Spurs wasn’t much of a shock, but getting comprehensively rolled over at Selhurst Park last weekend by Burnley certainly was. Victory against Sean Dyche’s side would have pretty much ensured Palace’s continued Premier League presence; as things stand, though, the Eagles are still looking over their shoulder.
A visit to Manchester City is the last thing they need. City have already beaten Palace twice this season, 2-1 at Selhurst in the league, a resounding 3-0 there in the cup. What’s more, Palace have lost on their last seven visits to City, a run stretching all the way back to 1997. Their last three matches at the Etihad have ended 3-0, 5-1 and 4-0.
City’s recent form will be the only thing giving Palace succour. Pep Guardiola’s side have only won two of their last nine fixtures, a sequence that has seen them knocked out of Europe and the FA Cup, and put a top-four finish in question. They need a strong finish to the season to grab one of those precious Champions League places: a two-goal win this lunchtime will send them third in the table and set them fair for the closing run.
With City desirous of another run at the Champions League, and Palace desperate for anything in their quest to ensure survival, this is a huge game at the top and bottom of the table. It’s perfectly poised. It could be a cracker. It’s on!
Kick off: 12.30pm.
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