Manchester City reaffirmed their title credentials with an outstanding 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The Citizens struggled without Sergio Aguero earlier in the campaign, with Wilfried Bony failing to truly demonstrate that he could replace the Argentine attacker.
However, with Aguero reinstalled to the starting XI, with Kelechi Iheanacho starting alongside him in a supporting role, and with Kevin De Bruye and David Silva providing quality from the flanks, City shone once again, demonstrating that it’s far too soon to count them out of the Premier League title race.
New boy Fabian Delph—who hasn’t always looked the part since signing from Aston Villa during the summer—opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a long-range effort which Wayne Hennessey failed to deal with.
From then on, it was the Aguero show.
The Argentine superstar added a second just before the break with a long-range effort of his own, following some excellent build-up play from Iheanacho, before lashing in a third in the 68th minute after finishing a De Bruyne cut-back from inside the box.
Silva added a fourth in the 83rd minute after he was played in by Aguero—demonstrating his class with the ball at his feet in a rampaging run through the Palace defence.
The only black mark for City was an injury suffered by Aleksandar Kolarov which saw him replaced in the 52nd minute. While the Serbian’s replacement Gael Clichy wasn’t troubled too much on the day, Citizens supporters will hope that the Eastern European wideman isn’t set for too long on the sidelines.
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Manchester City Player Ratings vs. Crystal Palace
Joe Hart: 7.5/10
Aleksandar Kolarov: 7.5/10
Martin Demichelis: 7.5/10
Nicolas Otamendi: 8/10
Pablo Zabaleta: 8/10
Fabian Delph: 9.5/10
Fernando: 7.5/10
David Silva: 7.5/10
Kelechi Iheanacho: 7/10
Kevin De Bruyne: 7.5/10
Sergio Aguero: 9.5/10
Subs
Gael Clichy: 6.5/10
Yaya Toure: 6.5/10
Jesus Navas: 6/10