Pep talks!
Nick Ames was at Selhurst Park tonight. Here’s his verdict on another twist in this year’s race for the Premier League. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Pep talks to Sky. “We played a really, really good game. We created a lot of chances, especially in the first half. They were a difficult side who defend really well, but we played a really good game. We will continue the same, be patient and we will get our chances. Tonight we couldn’t convert but this sometimes happens. I thought a lot to make some changes but they were playing good. There are nine games still to play. We have to win our tough games. The way we played, I have no regrets. I would have preferred to win, but we played well. We played to win chances, we created more, we conceded few, we played amazing in a difficult stadium with the grass not perfect, but we played a good game. We don’t need to draw here to know [how hard it is to win the league].”
Patrick Vieira speaks to Sky Sports. “It was tense from the first minute. But when you play against City you have to be ready. The players managed a difficult situation and played really well. Both games against them, we have conceded a lot of chances, but our keeper and our teamwork was really good. You need a bit of luck as well, and we were lucky, but you need to perform well, and we did it.”
The expected goals result: Palace 0.73 - 2.33 City. That seems about right. City didn’t get a single shot on target in the second half, though given how close they came on several occasions, that doesn’t quite tell the whole story. They threw the kitchen sink at Palace, Kevin De Bruyne his usual sensational self, although the hosts had a couple of other star performers themselves in Conor Gallagher and Tyrick Mitchell. “The whole team were brilliant,” Gallagher tells Sky. “We worked so hard for that and we deserved it. We even had chances to win the game but we’ll take a point. To be honest with you, I can’t feel my legs! They’re one of the best teams in the world, and to do that against them twice is amazing, and shows what we can do as a team.”
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Grealish might have lost the head temporarily, but his manager maintains a calm demeanour. He goes over to have a word with his compatriot, Palace keeper Vicente Guaita. A pat and a smile by way of congratulation. Apart from one spill in the first half, Guaita was magnificent. That’s a lovely sporting touch from Pep, given his side - so dominant, yet unable to force a breakthrough - have just dropped a couple of precious points in what is now officially a Title Race™. Palace couldn’t find a late smash-and-grab winner of their own, so aren’t able to climb into the top half, but they’re by far the happier of the teams as everyone traipses off the pitch, completely spent after a game that went along at 101 miles per hour from the get-go and never let up once.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 29 | 50 | 70 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 28 | 53 | 66 |
| 10 | Southampton | 29 | -9 | 35 |
| 11 | Crystal Palace | 29 | 1 | 34 |
| 12 | Leicester | 26 | -5 | 33 |
FULL TIME: Crystal Palace 0-0 Manchester City
There’s just enough time for Grealish to lose his rag with Clyne over a throw. He keeps chuntering on as the whistle goes. A staunch effort from Palace, who have kept City goalless for the second time this season!
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90 min +5: Space for Gallagher down the right. He reaches the byline but can’t find Edouard with his cutback.
90 min +4: Silva runs the ball out of play for a goal kick on the left. “There’s no way it’s going to end goalless,” claimed this MBM on 16 mins.
90 min +3: Mahrez tries to hook a long cross back from a tight position on the byline to the right of the Palace goal. Guaita gets down to claim well.
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90 min +1: In the first of five added minutes, Stones heads weakly towards his keeper, only for the ever-lively Gallagher to slip in between and nick off with the ball! He’s pushed himself further right than he’d like, but still spins and sends an ersatz Marco van Basten effort screeching over Ederson and also the bar.
90 min: Edouard is booked for a cynical check on Walker out on the City right. Everyone lines up on the edge of the box. De Bruyne curls an astonishing outswinger to the far post, where Laporte is clear! But his weak header slaps off Guehi and into the arms of Guaita.
89 min: Silva tries to release Mahrez out on the right. The pass clanks behind Mahrez and into touch. Both City players betray their frustration with yelps of frustration.
88 min: Andersen once again sends a free kick straight out of play. It’s eaten up time for the hosts, if nothing else.
87 min: ... so having said that, Palace immediately break, with City short at the back. Zaha spurns the opportunity by flaying a diagonal pass straight into the stand on the right.
86 min: Palace can’t get out of their final third. City are first to everything right now.
85 min: Schlupp and Edouard combine well down the inside-left and find Zaha on the edge of the box with his back to goal. Zaha spins and sends a firm shot straight into Ederson’s midriff. Palace are beginning to threaten a shock winner ... but they might also be in danger of leaving more space open at the back.
84 min: Gallagher is booked, absurdly so, for a light brush on Rodri’s boot as the pair high-kick into a 50-50. It’s fair to say the home fans aren’t particularly enamoured by Rodri this evening.
83 min: Kouyate snaffles possession in the midfield and sashays his way towards the City box. He slips forward for Edouard, who nearly opens up space to shoot on the edge of the area, but can’t quite sort his feet. So close to a smash-and-grab sucker punch!
81 min: Zaha is stopped illegally by Rodri as he works his way down the right. Andersen takes an age over the free kick - there’s surely going to be a big chunk of added time - before hoicking it witlessly straight out of play on the other flank. Andersen does better in blocking Grealish’s shot down the other end seconds later. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
79 min: Rodri, to pantomime boos, nearly finds Silva on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box with a sensational diagonal pass through the eye of a needle. The boos are followed by ironic cheers as Silva once again miscontrols and the ball flies out of play. City have done everything but score this evening. Plenty of time still to find that crucial goal, though.
77 min: De Bruyne curls in from the right. Grealish tries to ram the dropping ball goalwards, but can only send it squeaking through to Guaita. Then another City attack as De Bruyne, running after a ball threatening to go out of play on the right. hooks it back into the path of Foden, who is suddenly one on one with Guaita! He hesitates, allowing Guehi to poke behind for a corner ... and then the flag goes up for offside anyway.
75 min: Kouyate is caught by De Bruyne and goes down. Rodri comes over and accuses him of malingering and time-wasting. For a second, the throwing of hands seems a real possibility. But everyone calms down soon enough. The referee opts to keep his yellow card in his pocket, Rodri perhaps slightly lucky in that respect for his unnecessary intervention, though you can also understand his frustration at Palace stopping the game again with time suddenly not on City’s side.
73 min: Gallagher goes down and requires attention. The referee makes it plain that he’ll be adding on some time for a stoppage that takes up the best part of two minutes. Gallagher comes back on.
71 min: This is absurd! How did the ball not end up in Palace’s net here? De Bruyne slips a ball down the right to release Grealish past a sliding Schlupp. Grealish sashays along the byline and fires across to Silva, who only has to bundle home from a couple of yards. But though Silva gets a touch, he doesn’t connect properly, and the ball continues across the face of goal and away! How much closer can City get without scoring?
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69 min: ... and then suddenly Palace steal the ball, Gallagher creaming a lovely long pass down the right for Zaha to chase. Laporte wins this footrace, but only just, and nearly gifts possession to Zaha anyway, the ball clanking between his legs momentarily before he gets it under control again and clearing.
68 min: City ping the ball around this way and that, keeping Palace penned in. No way through at the moment, though.
67 min: Clyne pushes the limits of acceptability over a throw. Foden, getting slightly frustrated, taps an imaginary watch.
66 min: Foden spins into space down the inside-left channel and wedges forward for De Bruyne. Guaita claims the dropping ball, but only just, with De Bruyne inches away from knocking it past the out-rushing keeper. Good play all round.
65 min: Palace make a couple of changes up front. Olise and Mateta are replaced by Ayew and Edouard.
64 min: Cancelo twists Clyne this way and that down the left, before hooking an uncharacteristically poor cross straight out for a goal kick.
62 min: Olise chases a long ball down the right and wins a throw deep in City territory. They make nothing of it, but small acorns and all that, because very little of this game has been played in City’s half.
60 min: Walker slips Foden into the box down the right. Foden is in acres, and is onside, but hesitates while shifting the ball onto his left foot, allowing Mitchell to poke the ball away from his toe and into the arms of Guaita.
59 min: Walker floats a cross in from the right. Foden flicks on for Grealish, who is caught offside. Palace take their time over the restart, and you can hardly blame them, because City are giving them the runaround right now. A lot of last-ditch defending going on.
58 min: ... though it transpires De Bruyne was a shade offside upon receiving Grealish’s pass, and the flag goes up accordingly.
57 min: Grealish spins down the inside-left channel and slips a pass forward for De Bruyne, who hits a low diagonal shot across Guaita and off the base of the right-hand post. The ball rebounds to Mahrez, who hits a rising drive goalwards. Guaita sticks out a strong arm to tip over the bar. What a save!
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55 min: Zaha swings in from the left but can’t quite find Kouyate at the far stick. Ederson blooters long for Mahrez, who nearly latches onto Schlupp’s header back to his keeper. Guaita gets out to snaffle just in time.
54 min: City push Palace back again. Walker tries to skin Mitchell on the outside down the right but the impressive Palace full back stands firm and takes the ball off his opponent’s toe. Then Clyne repeats the trick on Grealish on the left. Palace attempt to counter through Gallagher down the same flank. Grealish brings him down and goes into the book.
52 min: Rodri should go in the book for a cynical tug on the back of Zaha’s shirt, but the referee shows no interest.
51 min: Nope, though they come pretty close. From the corner, there’s some head tennis in the City box. Kouyate, stretching every sinew, eyebrows a header wide right from six yards. He should have left it for Mateta, directly behind him. Goal kick.
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50 min: Mitchell latches onto a poor clearing header from Stones and earns a corner for Palace down the left. City have only conceded one goal from a set piece all season! They couldn’t, could they?
48 min: De Bruyne releases Mahrez with a sensational dragback and flick down the inside-right channel between three Palace defenders. Mahrez takes a heavy touch and runs the ball out for a goal kick. Shame, because that would have been an assist for the ages. What footwork!
47 min: Zaha begins the half with a little showboating, juggling the ball then backheeling it between a couple of City men despite being deep in his own territory. A few mind games here?
Palace take their sweet time to come out for the second half. City are kept waiting on the pitch. As the hosts eventually emerge slowly from the tunnel, referee Martin Atkinson makes a point of tapping his wrist theatrically, performing the internationally recognised mime for Get A Bloody Move On. Eventually everyone turns up for work, and City get the ball rolling for the second half.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Crystal Palace 0-0 Manchester City
De Bruyne sends a poor forward pass sailing into the stand for a goal kick, to ironic cheers from the satisfied home support. The whistle goes. City have passed up some big chances, but Palace have had their moments too, and both teams will fancy their chances in the second half. No goals yet, but it’s been a blast. More, please!
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45 min +1: The first of two additional first-half minutes flies by.
45 min: De Bruyne challenges Guehi for a high ball on the edge of the Palace box. Guehi wins the duel, but only sends a weak header to Mahrez, who creams a shot towards the top left. The ball hits the stanchion holding up the net. Goal kick. City ever so close again, though.
44 min: Olise tries to release Zaha down the left with a long pass but his radar’s out of whack. De Bruyne shapes to counter only to be cleaned out by Kouyate, who goes into the book.
42 min: City get back down to the probing. De Bruyne tries to flick Foden clear down the inside right, but Palace swarm and plug the gap.
41 min: Kouyate is still moving gingerly, though looks willing to battle through to half-time so the doctors can reassess during the break.
39 min: Zaha bustles in from the left before sending a rising screamer inches wide of the top right. Not sure Ederson was getting to that one.
38 min: Palace win a free kick near the centre circle. It’s hoicked into the mixer. Some head tennis. The ball breaks wide right to Andersen, who sends a dangerous diagonal bouncing bomb through the box and only just wide of the left-hand post. Ederson had it covered, though had anyone in red and white taken a gamble, they might have been able to slam that cross home.
37 min: Mahrez slips a pass down the right for Walker on the overlap. Mitchell slides in, then pulls out before touching the ball, which rolls out for a goal kick. A mid-tackle dummy that fooled Walker, who leapt over the ball assuming a corner would be forthcoming. The very promising Mitchell has had a good game so far.
36 min: Gallagher dribbles with Grealishesque flair down the left and is clipped by Silva, who is slightly fortunate not to go into the book. To be fair to the City midfielder, the man he brought down doesn’t make much of it.
35 min: Kouyate is good to continue, for now at least. City waste their corner.
34 min: Rodri has a shot that’s deflected wide left of goal. Before the corner can be taken, Kouyate goes down. A cynic would suspect some professional behaviour here, stopping the game to allow Palace, who are seriously rocking, to calm down and regroup. Though to be fair, replays show Rodri kicked his shin when following through on his shot. Either way, it’s a chance for Palace to take a couple of deep breaths.
32 min: Grealish fizzes a ball through the Palace six-yard box from the left. The ball makes its way through to Mahrez, who slams a low shot straight at Guaita. Palace are really hanging on here.
31 min: Mateta tries to release Zaha with a long, raking, quarterback’s pass down the left from deep inside his own half. Just not enough weight on the ball, allowing Stones to intercept.
29 min: How on earth have City not scored there?! To be fair to Laporte, that ball was travelling back to him at warp speed. He did amazingly well to react and get any sort of shot away.
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27 min: From the resulting corner, Foden has a whack from distance. Wide. But City come again, Cancelo creaming a rising drive past Guaita from 20 yards. The ball thumps off the left-hand post and rebounds back to Laporte, who smacks a first-time shot over the bar from ten yards, the goal completely unguarded.
26 min: Cancelo shovels a pass down the inside-left channel. The ball drops over De Bruyne’s shoulder. He sticks out his right boot and whips towards goal from a tight angle. Guaita reacts having been shot at from point-blank range, tipping over amazingly.
24 min: City calm things down a bit with some patient possession. Palace will be very happy with the way this has gone so far.
22 min: Mahrez drops a shoulder to stride infield from the right. He whips low and hard towards the bottom right. Guaita handles with confidence this time.
20 min: ... and then Palace break upfield from the City corner. Mitchell picks off Cancelo’s pass and creams a ball down the left for Mateta to chase. He rolls inside for Olise, who sends Foden off to the shops for a pint of milk and the paper. Having sat him down, he slips before he can shoot. He still manages to roll back to Mateta, but the angle is tight and Mateta’s shot dribbles wide left. This is great fun.
18 min: City push Palace back. Pass and probe. De Bruyne suddenly fires a long diagonal pass towards Grealish by the corner flag on the left. The ball’s worked back to Stones, who has a pop from 25 yards. The ball deflects off Schlupp and nearly nestles in the bottom-left corner, but flies inches wide of the post instead. Inches away from the opener!
16 min: It’s wide open, and Palace fancy this. Mateta forces a corner for Palace with a low drive from a tight angle on the left. Stones pokes out. Nothing comes of the set piece, but this end-to-end affair has really got the crowd going. They’re glad all over. On the evidence so far, there’s no way it’s going to end goalless.
14 min: De Bruyne shoots from distance. Guaita spills. Silva picks up the rebound, six yards out, but, in trying to smoothly round the stricken keeper on the outside, clumsily runs the ball out for a goal kick. The keeper gets away with a big mistake there.
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13 min: ... and now Walker is caught faffing around by Zaha and Mateta, the latter sending Olise into the box on the right. Olise flicks across Ederson with the outside of his left boot and wide of the goal.
12 min: Shades of the Etihad back in October for the dithering Laporte there. That’ll give the City defender something to worry about for the rest of the evening ... perhaps.
10 min: Gallagher steals the ball off Laporte on the halfway line and romps down the right. He looks to find Zaha in acres on the left flank, but his ball is too weighty and Zaha is forced further wide than he’d have liked. Zaha then attempts an absurdly ambitious shot from a tight angle and the chance is gone. A better crossfield pass from Gallagher there and Zaha was clean through.
8 min: Mahrez cuts in from the right and looks for space to shoot. Mitchell sticks close to him, forcing him further and further across the face of the box. Mahrez eventually curls well wide left.
7 min: Palace are struggling to get anywhere near the ball during these opening exchanges. City are first to everything.
5 min: Grealish, Foden and Silva triangulate down the left and nearly open Palace up. Silva hooks across from the byline. Geuhi clears. City have already established a level of dominance.
4 min: Grealish nips between two Palace defenders down the left, then nearly squeezes between another couple. The door is shut on the edge of the box, but that’s a promising run by the City midfielder, who already shows all the signs of being up for this.
3 min: Cancelo sends Mahrez into space down the right with a fine crossfield pass. The ball’s cut back for Rodri, who takes the first shot of the evening from the edge of the Palace box. Blocked. Cleared.
2 min: City stroke it around the back. Palace press hard, but City keep calm. Palace then take their turn to play out from the back. Guaita takes a heavy touch and briefly gives Foden hope, but the keeper clears his lines just in time to avoid slapstick disaster.
Palace get the party started ... but only after everyone takes a knee in support of equality, solidarity and love. Applause greets the gesture. There’s no room for racism. Challenge it, report it, change it.
Wilfried Zaha lines up with his team-mates. This is worth pointing out because he went down during the warm-up, holding his right foot and necking a couple of anti-inflammatory pills. He didn’t look comfortable. Palace will be hoping those tablets kick in sooner rather than later.
The teams are out! Palace wear their blue and red, while City sport second-choice white. Selhurst Park, having been treated to a light show, bounces as it always does. Then a message of solidarity with Ukraine: Football Stands Together. A warm ovation rings out from all four corners of the ground. The most atmospheric stadium in the Premier League? You could make the claim. Soak it up, we’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
Patrick Vieira speaks to Sky ... “City are City. We will not have as much possession as we want. Today is about defending as a team and being really patient. The other side is that we have to be brave enough. We know how good they are but we have to give them problems, and play with belief.”
... and so does Pep Guardiola: “The home loss was a long time ago. Many things have happened since then. Every time we come here it is a tough test. There are tough games for everyone, every single game, we know it. We accept the challenge!”
Crystal Palace are unchanged. Patrick Vieira names the same XI that beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 at Molineux nine days ago.
Manchester City name the same side Pep Guardiola sent out for the 4-1 thrashing of Manchester United eight days ago. It’s six changes from Sporting Lisbon, though, that Champions League game having been effectively a dead rubber with City 5-0 up from the first leg. Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, Rodri, Kevin de Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez and Joao Cancelo all return, the latter shaking off an illness that had threatened to keep him out tonight.
The teams
Crystal Palace: Guaita, Clyne, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell, Kouyate, Schlupp, Olise, Gallagher, Zaha, Mateta.
Subs: Butland, Ward, Tomkins, Ayew, Eze, Matthews, Benteke, Edouard, Riedewald.
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Joao Cancelo, De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Mahrez, Foden, Grealish.
Subs: Ake, Sterling, Gundogan, Gabriel Jesus, Zinchenko, Steffen, Fernandinho, Carson, Mbete-Tabu.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).
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Preamble
Normally you’d expect a team with the herculean task of facing Manchester City to want to do so on their own turf. Crystal Palace might be an exception, though. Selhurst Park, atmospheric as it is, hasn’t been much of an advantage to Palace when City are in town. City have won seven and drawn the other of their last eight visits to Palace, who last tasted victory in this fixture in April 2015, Glenn Murray and Jason Puncheon with the goals in a 2-1 win.
Palace have been something of a thorn in City’s side at the Etihad, mind. Their last four visits to the blue half of Manchester have seen them snaffle two wins and a draw, the latest victory a 2-0 triumph last October, Wilfried Zaha and Conor Gallagher’s goals top and tailing the match, Aymeric Laporte getting himself sent off bang slap in the middle of it. So that’s the stuff that will give them succour tonight.
Both teams are in good nick. City are coming off last week’s obliteration of town rivals United, while Palace’s only defeat in their last eight matches was a last-minute loss against European and world champions Chelsea. Can the hosts complete a first league double over City since doing it in the old Second Division in 1988, or will champions and title favourites City re-establish their six-point lead at the top of the table? We’ll find out soon enough. Kick off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
