It was an ending that could have been plucked out of the Manchester United playbook – well, when Sir Alex Ferguson was their manager and they were renowned for stealing difficult matches with late winners. Manchester City were missing key players, once again Crystal Palace were proving why they will be no pushovers this season and the sense was that Manuel Pellegrini was settling for a goalless draw when he replaced Wilfried Bony with Kelechi Iheanacho, a teenage striker with only a handful of Premier League minutes to his name.
The newcomer wore the No72 shirt and Palace could have been forgiven for thinking that their team was out of the woods when he trotted on. Yet Iheanacho dragged them back in, maintaining City’s 100% record by stabbing in the rebound when Alex McCarthy was unable to hold Samir Nasri’s shot in the 90th minute.
Maybe the Nigerian, 19 next month, who was signed last year from Taye Academy in his home country, will never contribute anything of any significance again for City. He would not be the first youngster to fade into obscurity after such a dramatic introduction.
Iheanacho does not even qualify for the B list for City’s Champions League campaign, which begins against Juventus at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, yet here was one of those moments that the leaders will look back on fondly if they lift the title in May. It was a goal that makes people talk of destiny, rather like United taking a huge step towards the title in April 2009 when Federico Macheda stepped off the bench to curl in a dramatic stoppage-time winner against Aston Villa.
City have a longer way to go than United did back then. Yet, even though the season is only five games old, Pellegrini’s side look hungrier than they were last year and they are already five points clear of Arsenal and United and 11 clear of Chelsea. Palace beat them at Selhurst Park last season and Alan Pardew’s side have improved since then. They began the day in second place after conquering Chelsea at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago.
“I think we are playing the same way,” Pellegrini said. “Maybe we are more consistent, a more solid team, more concentrating when we don’t have the ball. We have so much trust in the way we create chances. We lost many important points last season against relegated teams. Now we are in another season. The past is the past. We are just thinking about the present and the present now is to think about Juventus.
“It is so difficult to compare five games and, when you win the five games, it is more difficult to compare with the whole season. Last season in January we were top of the table, we qualified from a very difficult group in Champions League. It is important that the team is playing the correct way.”
Winning at Selhurst Park required a monumental effort from City, who had to overcome the blow of losing Sergio Agüero to an early knee injury. Pellegrini was unsure about whether he will be fit to play against Juventus, , beaten finalists in the Champions League last season, while Raheem Sterling is also a doubt to face the Italian champions because of a hamstring injury. City are hopeful that David Silva will return.
Deprived of that triumvirate, City needed others to take responsibility against Palace and Kevin de Bruyne came on for a promising debut, Nasri menaced in a central role and Yaya Touré controlled midfield.
City also coped admirably with Palace’s zesty attack. They have not conceded a goal yet and Vincent Kompany and Eliaquim Mangala, so unreliable last season, have formed an impenetrable barrier in central defence.
“Every player is different,” Pellegrini said. “Mangala, maybe it was his first year here in the Premier League. A lot of important players don’t play very well in their first year.
“Kompany knows that his performance last year was not what he must do. He is the captain of the team. What is important is the reaction that they have and the way we are playing. Not just Kompany and Mangala, because I think when you don’t win silverware it is not just one or two players, it is the squad.”
City’s attitude is right. “Nobody is allowed to get carried away. Nobody is allowed to think, ‘This is it,’” Kompany said. “It’s like building a house. You want the foundations to be strong and that’s what we’re doing at the moment.”
Man of the match Yaya Touré (Manchester City)
