There was plenty of drama at Selhurst Park as Ederson saved a late Luka Milivojevic penalty to maintain Manchester City’s unbeaten run in their engrossing 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace.
John Stones’ return to the match day squad is a timely boost
John Stones made the Manchester City match day squad for the first time since sustaining a hamstring injury in the first half of their 2-0 win over Leicester six weeks ago and his availability couldn’t have been better timed. Pep Guardiola lavished praise on ‘Superman’ Nicolas Otamendi in the build up to today’s visit to Crystal Palace, yet it’s Stones who has been the calming influence at the heart of the City backline. After a nervy start to life at the Etihad Stadium, the youngster is a key man for the Premier League title favourites.
In his absence, Vincent Kompany and Eliaquim Mangala have featured, though both have struggled for differing reasons. Kompany is again sidelined, while Mangala’s wayward approach to defending was almost capitalised upon in the early exchanges as a Wayne Hennessey punt up field wreaked havoc on the defence as the Frenchman struggled to deal with a long ball from the goalkeeper that almost resulted in a Palace goal.
Mangala may have settled after his early mishap, but that was largely due to City’s dominance rather than the 26-year-old working well to keep the Palace attack at bay. As the minutes ticked by, Mangala was exposed, particularly once Zaha switched to the right. Stones’ return come at an ideal time for Guardiola, especially with Kompany again sidelined and it’s likely the England international will make his long awaited return to action when City host Watford in the New Year.
Manchester City remain on course to break title record
Manchester City’s winning run ground to a halt after 18 games. The trip to Crystal Palace was a potential banana skin, but to have dropped just four points from 21 games is a hugely impressive feat. 14 points clear of second placed Chelsea with 17 games left to play is a worthy lead to build as City look to secure the Premier League title at the earliest possible opportunity.
Manchester United wrapped up the 2000/2001 title with five games remaining and that remains the earliest win in Premier League history. City are on course to match, if not beat, that record, even if they failed to overcome Palace on New Year’s Eve and while they were far from their best at Selhurst Park, it’s a case of when, not if, they win the league. With Chelsea showing signs of weakness away from home and Manchester United faltering, you’d back City to set a new record for the earliest Premier League title win this season.
Wilfried Zaha again Crystal Palace’s primary attacking outlet
In recent weeks, Wilfried Zaha has been deemed the best player outside of the Premier League’s traditional Big Six clubs and it’s not hard to see why. He has a number of rivals for the accolade - Riyad Mahrez, Richarlison and Xherdan Shaqiri, to name three - yet there is a reason why a number of top teams are reportedly lining up big money bids for the Ivory Coast international next month. Since his return from injury, Zaha has had a direct hand in five league goals, scoring four, and the Eagles again looked to their prized asset as a means of breaking down Manchester City.
While Palace saw little of the ball, every time they were in possession they played a long diagonal ball to Zaha to run onto and maximise his speed up against Kyle Walker. It made for an intriguing on-pitch battle between the Eagles star and City’s big money defensive acquisition and while Walker had the beating of Zaha overall, it was no surprise to see Palace look to the attacker where possible.
Midway through the second half and Zaha had switched to the right flank to capitalise on the shortcomings of Danilo and Eliaquim Mangala on the left of the City defence and it was his driving run into the box from the right that won Palace the late penalty that was saved by Ederson. Nevertheless, Zaha again showed enough to prove why the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal are all interested in the winger as the January transfer window looms.
Crystal Palace work well to snuff out City’s fluid attack
Manchester City were overwhelming favourites to secure all three points and extend their winning run to 19 prior to kick off, yet in the first half, Pep Guardiola’s side struggled to kick it up a gear in the final third. Crystal Palace are a far more organised defensive outfit since Roy Hodgson’s appointment and were able to snuff City with ease as they remained compact and disciplined. A much-changed City XI was going to struggle, yet Bernardo Silva, Leroy Sane and Kevin De Bruyne would walk into any starting XI in the country.
Even with the first half withdrawal of Scott Dann, though, Palace remained defensively diligent to limit City’s fluid attack. Cutting off the flow to the attack saw De Bruyne muster the joint-worst pass success rate (80%) of any City starter, while Patrick van Aanholt and Timothy Fosu-Mensah did well to deny the visitors’ wider options, even if a momentary lapse in concentration from the latter presented Sane with a golden opportunity to put the away side ahead on the hour mark.
Indeed, it wasn’t until Pep Guardiola introduced Raheem Sterling in the second half and Silva moved infield that City looked more threatening, but even then, Palace held firm. To keep a City side that has scored 61 league goals already this season is a testament to their well-drilled approach and provides a foundation to build upon over the coming months.
