Premier League, Etihad Stadium – Manchester City 4 (Delph 22, Aguero 41, 68, Silva 84) Crystal Palace 0
Sergio Aguero was the star of the show as Manchester City ended
their mini goal ‘drought’ to beat Crystal Palace 4-0 at the Etihad.
City drew 0-0 in midweek against Everton,
failing to score in a home game for the first time in almost a year,
but there was very little chance of this game ending goalless right from
the off.
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The hosts, playing a 4-4-2, threw bodies forward and left themselves wide open on the break, not helped by Joe Hart almost gifting the visitors a goal with a remarkable mistake as he cleared the ball straight into the back of James McArthur.
However Fabian Delph
and Sergio Aguero’s strikes from outside the box made it 2-0 to City at
the break, and Aguero turned on the style after half-time. First he
finished off a flowing counter-attacking move that involved four players
and some clever passing interplay, and then he turned down the chance
of a hat-trick to tee up David Silva for an easy finish.
The win puts Manchester City level on points with Arsenal and Leicester
at the top of the table (for a couple of hours at least) and defeat
sees Palace continue a hugely disappointing run in which they’ve failed
to win in five.
KEY MOMENTS
22’ – GOAL! Man City 1-0 Palace: Delph opens the scoring for City, moving forward from midfield and firing a drive through the hands of Wayne Hennessey. It was a good strike, but the keeper should have done better with that. 1-0.
24’ – MISTAKE – Hart clears
straight into the back of McArthur and watches as a shot on the rebound
drifts inches wide of his unprotected net. The England stopper is
furious that he didn't get a free-kick, but that mistake was his doing.
41’ – GOAL! Man City 2-0 Palace: Aguero's shot clips the head of Dann
and wrong-foots the keeper, picking out the bottom corner. That's 2-0
City, although it's not entirely clear who will get credit for the goal.
68’ – GOAL! Man City 3-0 Palace:
City break and they have players lining up to finish the move off.
Aguero works it to Silva, who returns to Aguero, who feeds Toure, who
tees up De Bruyne, who puts it on a plate for Aguero... and Aguero loses patience and strokes it into the back of the net.
84’ – GOAL! Man City 4-0 Palace:
Aguero is clean through on goal, but unselflishly opts against going
for the hat-trick and plays it square to the unmarked David Silva for an
easy finish.
KEY STATS
Sergio Aguero has scored 31 goals in his last 34 Premier League games at the Etihad.
The Argentine has also now scored 10 or more goals in each of his last nine league seasons. Cristiano Ronaldo is the only other player in Europe’s top five leagues to have achieved that feat.
This is the first time that Palace have conceded more than one goal away from home in one day shy of a year.
TALKING POINT
Are City favourites for the title? Probably.
And definitely if Aguero can keep fit for the rest of the season.
Arsenal are in pole position right now, but City have the better players
and the winning experience and are right on their tail despite never
really hitting the heights this season. That’s ominous in anyone’s book.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City): Aguero is
back… and the rest of the league better watch out. The striker wasn’t
even at his best today, but he didn’t need to be in order to open up
Palace’s defence. There was an element of luck about his first goal, but
his second was superb and he linked up play brilliantly all afternoon
before being given a rest a few minutes from time. It’s a pleasure to
have you back, Sergio.
PLAYER RATINGS
City: Hart 5; Zabaleta 6, Otamendi 6, Demichelis 7, Kolarov 6; Fernando 7, Delph 8; De Bruyne 8, Silva 8, Iheanacho 7; Aguero 9. Subs: Clichy 6, Toure 7, Navas 5.
Palace: Hennessey 4; Ward 6, Dann 7, Delaney 7, Souare 6; Ledley 6, Cabaye 7; Puncheon 5, McArthur 5, Zaha 5; Wickham 4. Subs: Chamakh 3, Mutch 5, Lee 5.
THE MATCH IN A TWEET
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