Manchester City was fourth in the Premier League after having come from two goals to beat Crystal Palace 5-2 on Saturday.
The Premier League used semi-automatic offside technology for the first time and was easily used in the Etihad Stadium throughout the first half. Eberechi Eze and Chris Richard’s Palace offered a lead of two goals – the former saw a third party that was narrowly excluded from the side – before Kevin de Bruyne and Omar Marmoush had efforts.
But the city was completely ruthless during a one-sided second half, James Mcateee and Nico O’reilly added their names to the goal ship, which Pep Guardiola’s team anchored closer to the Champions League qualification.
How the game unfolds
City made a positive start to a must-win game in Etihad, but the defensive defects they exposed throughout the season were in full show when the palace raced in an early lead of two goals. Ismaila Sarr struck the offside trap and raised EZE for a simple finish within eight minutes and Richards soon doubled the advantage.
The American defender, who could have admitted a punishment less than ten minutes earlier, benefited from Ederson on a corner to control the palace in Dreamland.
It got almost as worse for the ruffled hosts when Eze’s Expert Touch and Finish was excluded for offside after Sarr was eliminated, but the Cityzens used their luck with a remarkable comeback in the first half.
De Bruyne, who had already cracked the post as a city, reduced the deficit, dismissed an exquisite free kick beyond Dean Henderson, before only three minutes later he proved to be significant for the establishment of marmoush’s close-range compensation.
The momentum was clearly in favor of the city after the restart and it only took two minutes to complete the handling. De Bruyne was again involved after fed Nico O’relly’s cut in the way of Kovacic, who in turn rattled a toxic strike into the lower corner.
The resonating cityzens seemed to bring the palace to the sword in the second half, and within ten minutes after half-time they boasted a two-goal buffer. In the first half, Everson received redemption for some dubious goalkeeper by selecting Mcatee with a breathtaking 60-yard pass, and the young rounded off Henderson before rolling into an empty network, even though the city stop seemed to have injured himself and was soon forced from the field.
O’Reily’s attacking display fell attention in the Etihad and the youngster scored his first goal of the Premier League ten minutes before the time, with his dismissed strike put the cake for the cityzens upside down.
Take a look at the player reviews for Man City 5-2 Crystal Palace.
Arsenals demolition of the week a week from Real Madrid ensured that the fifth team of the Premier League would achieve the qualification of the Champions League, which would have been celebrated on the blue half of Manchester. However, there are still a number of challengers who compete for a top five finish, and the return of the city in Europe is by no means guaranteed.
For this reason, the result of the Saturday was so important that only six games for the cityzens, who moved back to fourth place and have withdrawn on slip-ups for Chelsea and Newcastle United on Sunday.
City has some relatively comfortable games ahead of them – certainly compared to some of their competitors – including clashes with Everton, Wolverhampton Wanderers and already in Southampton and at the end of the season. They approach a decisive league of the Champions League.
Comacks were too often for City during the Guardiola era, but they were much less common this season. Her battles since Rodri’s injuries to the end of the campaign have led to a few distances under their best operated for a large part of the term and were alarming.
But even though City fell back in Etihad two, she never gave up. The fact that both palace goals were achieved so early helped, but Guardiola’s team showed an impressive courage to continue playing with speed and ingenuity despite the growing nervousness of the domestic audience.
De Bruyne was crucial for her turn, but also Marmoush, O’Reilly and Kovacic rose to the opportunity when the city disabled its early burglary. It was one of her best achievements of the season – certainly in the past few months – and showed the fighting spirit that still lives in Guardiola’s camp.
De Bruyes farewell tour started last weekend during a Drab Manchester derby, but continued stylishly against the Eagles. The Maestro rolled back for the years with a mammoth performance in the city’s needs, slid over the lawn and manipulated the ball with the boasting, which we have seen in the Premier League in the past ten years.
The performance of the Belgian may be questioned several in the hierarchy of City in order to question the decision that the increasingly increasingly injury-prone can leave this summer free of charge. This version of de Bruyne would be an undeniable good for Pep Guardiola’s team next season.
After de Bruyne had already completed an impressive effort, he transported a weakened city team on his back. A bad free kick began a comeback in the first half and his header over the goal finally found the way to Marmoush for the Equalizer – admittedly after a small touch of Ilkay Gunodgan.
The veteran poured on after the break and quickly supported the third of the city before watching a more measured approach when the hosts wanted to forget their visitors. He rightly received ovations in the final phase on his departure.