Superb comeback from Palace ruins City’s celebrations

There will likely be long faces in the Manchester City squad as they head off to Saudi Arabia and the Club World Cup, where they face Urawa Reds on Tuesday (1 p.m. ET). Pep Guardiola’s team had controlled this match against injury-hit Palace but they let it slip away in the last quarter of an hour. Even more painful that this was their final duel at the Etihad before Christmas. They felt they’d done the hard work, but a superb comeback from Palace spoiled the sky blues’ party to see the match end 2-2. Two shots on goal and two goals from visitors kept the Mancunians three points off the top of the Premier League.

City start strong

Álvarez gave Palace an early warning five minutes in, heading a cross from Walker on the right. Then it was Dias who tried his luck with a first-time shot from the edge of the area, just missing the post. There was only one team out on the Etihad pitch, and Foden and Grealish found a way to make it count on the scoreboard. Foden received the ball at the edge of the box, back to goal. With his first touch, he controlled, turned, and with the second found City’s number 10, who scored despite being in tight position. VAR took a long, hard look at it, but ended up confirming the goal.

City domination continues

Just a couple of minutes later, Gvardiol slipped between two defenders to latch onto a long pass from Dias and face Henderson, but the Palace keeper was up to the challenge and won his first one-on-one of the match. The sky-blue dominance though continued in a game that had many similarities to a training exercise with City in the role of attackers and Palace the defenders. In fact there was no response from the visitors until the last minute of the first half, when Mateta was brought down by Ederson at the edge of the box and Olise sent the free-kick just over the bar.

City double their lead, eventually

Álvarez celebrated a goal eight minutes after the restart, but the referee disallowed it because Rodri crossed the path of the ball, though he didn’t touch it. VAR agree, to howls of anguish from the Etihad Stadium. However the City faithful only had to wait two more minutes before celebrating their team’s second goal. Grealish and Foden, again, combined at the edge of the box, with the latter chipping the ball into the area, where Lewis slammed home from close range. Henderson could do nothing to stop it.

Palace suddenly come to life

As the game entered its final stretch, Crystal Palace suddenly ripped up the script. Schlupp received the ball behind the defence and slipped down the edge of the box despite the presence of Dias. With the City defence suddenly losing cohesiveness, Mateta got ahead of his marker to seize his teammate’s gift and score easily with his team’s first shot on goal. It looked though as if City were going to hold on comfortably despite Palace getting on the scoresheet but right at the death Foden arrived late to clear in his own area and made contact with Mateta. With time up, Olise scored from the penalty spot to send the visiting fans into a frenzy. The draw means Guardiola’s team falls to fourth place, and when they return from their Club World Cup jaunt they’ll be even further off the pace.