Manchester City missed the chance to take the lead in the championship race. The Skyblues squandered a 2-0 lead against Crystal Palace: Manchester only conceded a penalty in stoppage time to make it 2-2
After the success at newly promoted Luton, the first win in the league for more than a month, Pep Guardiola rested a large number of regular players in the Champions League match in Belgrade (3:2), which was of no sporting significance. The role was reversed against Crystal Palace: only Lewis and Grealish started again.
The Citizens were the only team from the top four to start on Saturday and naturally wanted to get ahead of the game – and that was evident on the pitch for a long time. Against a very deep Eagles side, who started with five changes from the 2-1 defeat to Liverpool, the home side were particularly dangerous down the right in the early stages: Passes from the right led to missed chances from Alvarez (5) and Rodri (16).
Grealish scores for the third league game in a row
In the end, Guardiola’s eleven broke through the defensive bulwark via the center. Foden turned perfectly and set up Grealish (24) – the 28-year-old’s third league goal in a row. As the forward only hit the outside of the net shortly before the break (41′), the visitors went into the break 1-0 up. The Londoners would have liked to have seen City keeper Ederson a little earlier. But the keeper was “only” shown a yellow card by referee Paul Tierney for a foul on Mateta (42′), probably because Ruben Dias was still on the ball.
The second 45 minutes continued in the same vein. The Citizens, who according to Opta had all ten outfield players involved in a chance in the first half – a Premier League record since data collection began (2006/07) – continued to establish themselves in their opponents’ half after the restart.
Lewis celebrates Premier League goalscoring debut
The reward came soon after: After Alvarez’s goal had been taken back due to Rodri’s offside (52′), Lewis made it 2-0 (54′) – the 19-year-old celebrated his first goal in the Premier League.
Man City then switched into administration mode. Only Bernardo Silva came close again (62′). Manchester got their revenge against the visitors, who were harmless for long stretches. After a long ball, Schlupp crossed for Mateta, who scored the sudden equalizer (76′). It was the seventh time in a row that the Sky Blues had failed to score a goal in the league
Olise remains ice-cold in stoppage time
Although it looked as though victory was no longer in danger, Palace equalized. Foden failed to see Mateta in his own penalty area and hit the leg of the chasing Palace attacker instead of the ball as he attempted to clear. Olise converted the resulting spot-kick to make the final score 2:2 (90.+5).
As a result, the reigning champions remain fourth in the table and could be pulled to within six points of leaders Liverpool tomorrow.
Next up for Manchester City is a trip to Saudi Arabia for the Club World Cup. On Tuesday, the Skyblues will face Urawa Red Diamonds in the semi-finals in Jeddah (7pm).
