Manchester City traveled to Crystal Palace to seal round thirty one of the Premier League. Manchester City, sitting in fourth place due to the victories of Arsenal and Manchester United, were forced to get a victory against Crystal Palace who were sitting in 12th. Crystal Palace was looking for their third straight victory.
Manchester City dominated the whole game with 74% ball possession. They had two huge opportunities to score in the first twenty minutes but were unable to finish both plays. David Silva had a shot that was blocked by a defender throwing himself and another one was a shot by Sergio Aguero that hit the woodwork.
Just ten minutes before the end of the first half, Crystal Palace found the back of the net on a play that was not called offsides by the linesman. Crystal Palace had a corner kick that was cleared by the Citizens and was crossed again. After the cross, there was a flicked ball to Scott Dann and that was were the offsides was not called. Scott Dann shot after the flicked ball, but the shot was stopped by Joe Hart. Unfortunately, after Joe Hart’s block, the ball landed at Glenn Murray‘s feet and he just tapped it in.
Manchester City came out second half looking to score and continue to dominate the game. Just three minutes into the second half Jason Puncheon scored a brilliant freekick in the back of Hart’s net, that was perfectly placed in the bottom right post. This put Crystal Palace up 2-1.
Manchester City had no other option but to continue fighting and get a goal one at a time. Already with an unlucky offsides goal, they did not get a hand ball called inside the box.
On minute 78′ Yaya Toure found the back of the net for the Citizen with a superb shot just outside of the eighteen yard box after an unsuccessful clear by the Crystal Palace defense.
Unfortunately for the Citizens, this defeat drops them to fourth place with 61 points and nine away from Chelsea who are the current leaders. This practically sets them back from any chance of winning the Premier League. Manuel Pellegrini needs to find a solution within a week before they travel to Old Trafford to play against the very inspired Manchester United, who sit in third, for the Manchester Derby.