Match Report and Player Ratings: Manchester City 3-0 Crystal Palace (Premier League)
Match Report and Player Ratings: Manchester City 3-0 Crystal Palace (Premier League) Manchester City kept their slender Premier League title hopes alive tonight, dispatching of Crystal Palace by 3-0 on a rain-soaked evening at the Etihad Stadium. A much-rotated City looked disjointed in the early exchanges of the first-half, but Phil Foden ‘s wonderful backheel assist for Antoine Semenyo to score was a catalyst for the tempo to rise, and Foden was again on hand to create Omar Marmoush ‘s second league goal in as many games. A second-half of very little action put paid to City’s hopes of running up a goal difference advantage to put more pressure on Arsenal , but substitute Rayan Cherki did manage to lay on a third of the evening for Savinho to finish and seal a successful evening for the Blues.
Pep Guardiola ‘s teamsheet, as has so often been the case in his near-decade in charge, took an unfamiliar shape and you could be forgiven for thinking the City players didn’t quite know where they were playing themselves as Palace burst through inside two minutes and bundled over the line via Jean-Philippe Mateta – the flag went up extremely belatedly against Brennan Johnson . City had the territory but struggled to create early chances, with Palace proving to be their usual threat on the counter-attack; the returning Josko Gvardiol was needed to block Yeremy Pino ‘s shot just wide, then Chris Richards headed narrowly over from the resulting corner. One of the surprising aspects of the City line-up was Rayan Ait-Nouri ‘s deployment on the left-wing, but the Algerian forced the Blues’ first proper opening as he bundled through a challenge into the box.
His weak-footed shot only found the side-netting. The first half-hour was as dour as can be inside the Etihad, and it always looked like it needed a moment of genius to liven things up. That’s exactly what Foden produced as he provided an exceptional backheel assist into the path of Semenyo, whose clinical finish ended his six-game scoring drought in the Premier League.
Palace had an immediate chance to respond beaten away by Gianluigi Donnarumma from Tyrick Mitchell ‘s shot, but City seemed to have been kicked into life and should have doubled their advantage when Savinho fed Marmoush after a quick break; the Egyptian took too long over his finish though and the visitors cleared. It wasn’t long before the striker got himself on the scoresheet though. Gvardiol clipped a delightful pass into Foden in the box, and the midfielder hooked the bouncing ball on for City’s no.
7 to hold off Jaydee Canvot and shoot in via the leg of Dean Henderson . It was nearly three and a hat-trick of assists for Foden before half-time too, as Gvardiol was denied a comeback goal by Henderson, who sensationally stretched to tip away the Croatian’s header. A remarkably unremarkable second-half followed, with one of the few openings for either team seeing Bernardo Silva sell a pass short and allow substitute Ismaila Sarr in at an angle, but the Senegalese put it straight down the throat of Donnarumma.
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