Palace conquered at Man City

Manchester City 3 Crystal Palace 1

Shaun Wright-Phillips enhanced his England claims with another devastating display of wing play as Manchester City put their FA Cup woes behind them at home to Crystal Palace today.

When Sammy Lee offers Sven-Goran Eriksson his opinion of Wright-Phillips’ latest brilliant performance the England coach may find it impossible to leave the little winger out of next month’s friendly with Holland at Villa Park.

It was not just Wright-Phillips’ two goals – taking his seasonal tally to 11 - which caught the eye; more the sheer panic his appearance on the ball instilled in the Palace defence.

He opened City’s account with an excellent finish from Joey Barton’s through ball after 12 minutes and wrapped up victory in the final stages by turning home Robbie Fowler’s cut-back.

The impressive Fowler also deservedly got his own name on the scoresheet, doubling the Blues’ advantage with a solo goal – and although Darren Powell pulled one back before the break, City were able to consign last week’s costly loss at Oldham to the history books.

Any fears the Boundary Park debacle might prompt another City slump were quickly dispelled as the hosts tore into their opponents.

Palace boss Iain Dowie is an advocate of the scientific approach to football. But no amount of graphs and charts can provide an obvious solution to the major problem facing every City opponent – namely how to stop Wright-Phillips.

In his programme notes, Keegan described the England international as the heart-beat of his club.

He might well have added lungs, legs and brains too - given how heavily City rely on the little winger.

It soon became apparent that Palace simply were not good enough to stop him.

Only poor finishing prevented Wright-Phillips from putting City ahead after he had left Powell looking stupid with a delightful turn on the edge of the box.

Having wasted one chance, he did not miss again when presented with a similar opportunity two minutes later.

The Palace defence were completely oblivious to the 40-yard burst which allowed him to pick up Barton’s square ball and blast a shot past Gabor Kiraly.

All season long, Keegan has complained about his team’s inability to make the most of territorial dominance – so when Fowler skipped inside Powell and rasped home a second within two minutes of Wright-Phillips’ strike it appeared City were on their way to an easy win.

Kiraly had other ideas, though, and proved to be just as important to the Palace cause as Wright-Phillips is to City’s.

Before half-time, the Hungarian had made half-a-dozen key saves – denying Fowler alone three times.

The former Liverpool and Leeds man, restored to the Blues line-up after missing last week’s embarrassment because of a family bereavement, had one of his more productive games as City took command.

David James was livid at the slack marking which allowed Powell to get a free header at Wayne Routledge’s free-kick.

But having got to the ball, credit must be given to the Palace defender who glided his effort into the corner – giving the City goalkeeper no chance.

If Richard Dunne had not slid in to make a last-ditch tackle on Palace danger man Andrew Johnson just before the break the visitors might even have got themselves level.

As it was, City survived – allowing Wright-Phillips to host another master-class at the start of the second half.

Whether he was running with the ball at his feet, scampering around looking for a pass, shooting or crossing, the City wide man was a constant threat.

One shot was deflected wide; another smashed into the side-netting – and Steve McManaman, on as a half-time replacement for Antoine Sibierski, nearly profited from a far-post cross which evaded every visiting defender.

While Wright-Phillips’ best endeavours might have brightened up a dank, grey Manchester day, they did not bring City another goal – offering Palace the encouragement to launch their own bombardment.

Substitute Wayne Andrews and Mikele Leigertwood both saw speculative efforts flash just wide before Routledge caused panic in the City six-yard box with an excellent free-kick which both Dunne and Danny Mills failed to clear before Jon Macken eventually did.

City always seemed to have something to spare after that – and when Fowler, who received a standing ovation when he was replaced by Nedum Onouha in stoppage time, cut a superb cross back from the by-line a minute from time Wright-Phillips wasted no time in finishing the Eagles off.