Man City fluff lines on night of frustration against Crystal Palace

Another twist in title race as Guardiola's men unexpectedly held at Selhurst Park

Mon, 14 Mar, 2022 - 22:55

CRYSTAL PALACE 0 MANCHESTER CITY 0

Ian Winrow

For once Pep Guardiola’s normally ruthless Manchester City side faltered. Dominant for long periods of the game, they fluffed their lines in front of goal, passing up a succession of chances to claim the victory that would restore their six-point lead over Liverpool at the head of the table.

Jurgen Klopp’s side now have the chance to cut the gap to one point when they face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday. The title race just got more intriguing yet Guardiola will wonder how his team failed to claim the win that would have dented Liverpool’s belief.

Normal service will surely be quickly resumed but in a run-in when the margin for error is likely to be small, they will hope this slip doesn’t prove costly.

Guardiola’s side settled into the game in familiar fashion, moving the ball confidently across the pitch as they sought to find a way through a Palace defence that was under no illusions about the demands it would face in the course of the evening.

Riyad Mahrez and Kevin de Bruyne combined to test Tyrick Mitchell, the Palace left-back while Jack Grealish put Nathaniel Clyne under pressure on the opposite flank. The home side, though, demonstrated they not content to simply sit back and nullify City’s attacking efforts, pressing high up the pitch whenever they got the opportunity, notably when Conor Gallagher dispossessed Aymeric Laporte near the halfway to trigger a break that might have brought an early breakthrough.

The opportunity disappeared when Gallagher overhit his crossfield pass towards Wilfried Zaha, who started despite appearing to be troubled by a foot injury during the warm up. If that was a warning for City, though, it went unheeded with Kyle Walker also guilty of losing possession in a dangerous to gift Palace another half chance.

City’s defensive slips gave Palace hope, but they were followed by a period of sustained pressure as the visitors began to pepper Vicente Guaita’s goal without finding a way past the Palace keeper.

They should have gone ahead in the 14th minute when the influential De Bruyne delivered a powerful shot from 20 yards that Guaita failed to hold. Bernardo Silva followed up but instead of finishing first time, the midfielder attempted to round the keeper and succeeded only in putting ball out of play.

John Stones then stepped forward to fire a long range effort narrowly wide before De Bruyne almost caught Guaita out with a superbly executed volley delivered with the outside of his right foot from a narrow angle.

The ease with which City were finding a way through was concerning for Vieira and Palace were given another reprieve when Cancelo fired towards goal from 30 yards. Laporte was on hand when the ball bounced back off the post but the pace on the shot meant the City centre-back was unable to keep his first time effort down.

The way in which City were able to maintain pressure on Guaita’s goal suggested a breakthrough would come, even if Palace had managed to remain on level terms at the break. Vieira’s side, though, could draw satisfaction from the way they had caused problems on the break and had every reason to believe they might force another lapse in concentration.

Michael Olise and Gallagher had shown they had the pace and energy to trouble City but there was a clear sense that the visitors would eventually take control of the game provided they maintained their composure.

That belief was tested early in the second half when Palace almost took advantage of their opponents’s failure to properly deal with a corner. A half-clearance was returned into the box where Marc Guehi, the Eagles centre-back, headed the ball on towards Cheikhou Kouyate who directed his effort wide when Jean-Philippe Mateta was better placed.

Having survived that scare, City resumed their attempt to unpick a stubborn Palace defence. De Bruyne struck the post with an angled shot and Phil Foden was caught in possession when he spent too long sizing up a shot.

De Bruyne certainly looked the player most likely to provide the game’s decisive moment as signs of City frustration started to grow, particularly after Silva failed to make contact with Jack Grealish’s low cross when just a yard from goal.

Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Guaita 7; Clyne 6, Andersen 7, Guehi 7, Mitchell 8; Kouyate 7, Schlupp 6; Olise 7 (Ayew 64, 6), Gallagher 8, Zaha 6; Mateta 6 (Edouard 65, 6).

Subs: Butland, Ward, Tomkins, Eze, Matthews, Benteke, Riedewald.

Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson 6; Walker 6, Stones 6, Laporte 6, Cancelo 7; Silva 5, Rodri 6, De Bruyne 8; Mahrez 7, Foden 6, Grealish 6.

Subs: Steffen, Ake, Sterling, Gundogan, Jesus, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Carson, Mbete-Tabu.

Referee: Martin Atkinson 6