Manchester City faced another setback on Saturday as they were handed a 1-0 defeat at home by Crystal Palace. Patrick Viera’s men were able to clinch all three points after forward Wilfried Zaha scored an early goal for the side and hence was enough to seal a victory away from home. This latest defeat has now dented City’s standing in the points table and are now five points away from league leaders Chelsea.
Poor defending costs Manchester City
Despite starting ‘f’ at the Etihad, the Sky Blues were unable to cope up with the visiting side. The Eagles took an early lead in the game as forward Wilfried Zaha was set up by an excellent pass by teammate Conor Gallager, which was later slotted back home by the Ivorian international.
With a goal down in the first 10 minutes, City tried to respond with some decent attacking chances in their attacking half. Gabriel Jesus and Phil Foden threatened the Palace backline with some excellent runs in the box but had failed to convert their chances in the final third.
Guardiola’s side faced another massive setback just before the end of the first half as defender Aymeric Laporte was given marching orders after his dangerous tackle on Zaha.
Manchester City suffer from a man down
City’s second half started on a positive note as they kept making efforts to grab the equalizer. Jesus came close to adding a leveler as he fired the ball past the Palace keeper to make it 1-1 but the goal did not stand as it was ruled offside.
In the dying moments of the game, the Eagles finished the game off with a second goal as Conor Gallager was provided by a neat pass by Micheal Olise which was converted by the Englishman to make it 2-0 in favor of the visitors.
In the end, Manchester City were made to suffer for their poor outing at home. City boss Guardiola will be unimpressed with his team’s performance against the Eagles.
After two consecutive defeats, the Sky Blues now will return to the Champions League and are again slated to return to the Etihad for their group stage fixture against Club Brugge, who were thrashed 5-1 in Belgium earlier this month.