Young full-back harshly sent off by referee Rob Jones for two "bookable" offences
FA Premier League
Saturday 7th December 2024, 15.00 KO
City: Ortega, Walker, Lewis, Gvardiol, Dias, Gundogan, Silva, De Bruyne (Grealish 86), Nunes, Savinho (Doku 79), Haaland
Unused: Carson, Wilson-Esbrand, McAtee, O'Reilly, Ederson, Simpson-Pusey, Wright
Goals: Haaland (30), Lewis (68)
Booked: Lewis
Sent off: Lewis
Referee: Rob Jones
Man of the match: Dias
Manchester City travelled to Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon after finally breaking their losing streak on Wednesday night with a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest. They were looking to expand on this to try and close the gap in the top 4. City were without Manuel Akanji who was ruled out with an injury by Pep Guardiola and Phil Foden was still out of action with illness. Stefan Ortega kept his place in goal after an impressive performance in the week. Rico Lewis, Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol were the back four. Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva were in midfielder with Kevin De Bruyne in attacking midfield with Erling Haaland as the sole striker. Matheus Nunes and Savio were on the wings.
Despite promise building up prior to the game, it didn’t take long at all for the first blunder to come for the Blues. In the fourth minute, a pass through to Palace’s Daniel Munoz led to the midfielder slotting the ball past Ortega with a right footed shot to give Crystal Palace the early lead. It seemed as though City had tried an offside trap but it appeared to be Walker that had kept the Colombian onside.
Once again, for the fifth time in the last eight matches, City had conceded the first goal and were left with work to do. City immediately tried to gain control of the match despite trailing. Shortly after the first chance, a shot from Haaland was blocked by Henderson after being through on goal.
Palace were knocking on the door frequently but an impressive defensive performance from Ruben Dias kept the blues in the game, who blocked multiple shots throughout the match, including one from Eze in the 22nd minute, which would’ve given City huge problems otherwise.
In the 30th minute, City were finally able to strike back with a cross in from Gundogan found the head of Haaland who headed it cleanly into the corner to bring the Blues level before half time. It was just what City needed at this stage of the game, and they were back in it.
By half time, the two teams were generally evenly matched with both having good chances and both having been capable of scoring more than they had done in the 1st half. Many would’ve thought City were to go on to win in the second half despite this.
However, this was not to be. After a brief spell of domination from the Blues in the second half, they once again found themselves in trouble. In the 56th minute, a corner from Hughes found the head of Lacroix, who beat Walker in the air to bring Palace back into the lead, giving Guardiola plenty to think about yet again.
It was looking difficult for City to get back into the game and they needed an individual moment of brilliance for that to happen at this stage, with Palace ambitiously defending. Thankfully, Rico Lewis was there to provide this, with a powerful shot in an open space blazing into the top corner to make the score 2-2 in the 67th minute. Surely it was City’s to go on and win.
However, Rico Lewis would go on to go from the hero to the villain. In the 83rd minute a challenge for the ball was slightly mistimed and having already been on a yellow card, Lewis was shown red by referee Rob Jones, who believed he had committed a second cautionable offence. Appeals were made but they were unsuccessful, and City were down to ten men, their chances of a win were feeble now.
Palace held City off and both teams secured a point. City will be frustrated to have not won after such a big performance mid-week, they remain 4th in the League and will travel to Turin to face Juventus in the Champions League mid-week and will face United in the derby at home next Sunday.