Manchester City’s title hopes were effectively ended after they lost 2-1 away to Crystal Palace. A late Yaya Toure strike failed to ignite a comeback after Glenn Murray and Jason Puncheon had given Alan Pardew’s men a 2-0 lead despite City’s dominance.
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(Video) Glenn Murray goal gives Crystal Palace 1-0 lead v Man City: three contentious offside calls
Crystal Palace vs Manchester City starting XIs: Pellegrini goes on attack with two strikers
Here’s how the players rated:
GK- Joe Hart 6
Should have perhaps positioned himself better for the second goal, but made some crucial saves when the defence were breached.
RB- Bacary Sagna 6
Attempted to play the offside trap for the opening goal, and was unlucky that the flag did not go up. Made some decent runs which helped his team attack.
CB- Vincent Kompany 6
Made some crunching challenges, but never managed to keep Glenn Murray quiet -something the old Kompany would never fail to do.
CB- Martin Demichelis 7
Slow to react for the first goal, and could perhaps have prevented Murray getting to the ball first, but is understanding the English game better, and has become a calming influence, rather than the liability he seemed to be when he first joined the club.
LB- Gael Clichy 6
Apart from the opening chance, he did a good job of keeping Palace’s pacey wingers fairly quiet. He also offered some good support in attack.
RM- Jesus Navas 5
Made very little impact upon the game, and seemed to see very little of the ball. Gave Pellegrini little choice but to replace him in the second-half.
CM- Yaya Toure 7
The Ivorian resembled his old self with a fantastic goal to bring his side back in with a chance, but Palace dealt with him quite well for most of the game.
CM- Fernandinho 6
Needlessly gave away the free-kick that led to the second Palace goal, but provided a decent amount of cover for the defence.
LM- David Silva 7
Featured much more prominently down the middle than from the left, but was arguably City’s best player. Palace frequently put two or three men on him because the ball stuck to his feet.
ST- Edin Dzeko 5
Saw very little of the ball, and failed to make the same kind of impact as his strike partner, so it was no surprise to see him brought off quite early into the second half.
ST- Sergio Aguero 6
Pellegrini doesn’t seem to understand that to get the best out of Aguero, he needs to be the only man in attack with the likes of Silva and Toure playing off him. Once he removed Dzeko for Lampard, City looked much more threatening, although perhaps not down to Aguero himself. On the whole, it was a very frustrating night for the Argentinian who hit the post in the first half.
Subs
Frank Lampard 6
Looks off form, and is clearly waiting for the season to run its course, with practically nothing to play for now.
Samir Nasri 6
It was hoped he would make more of an impact that Navas, but squandered a half-chance late on.
James Milner 6
Came on for Fernandinho late on, probably for his energy. But he couldn’t change anything.