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Key occasions
72 min: That succession of stoppages for the substitutions and accidents has taken the momentum out of the sport. If Palace might by some means pull a aim again it might make for an fascinating denouement however they’ve been very a lot on the again foot for the reason that break.
70 min: The jig is up for Ederson, who limps from the pitch to heat applause and is changed by Ortega.
69 min: Now Ederson is on his again on the grass, in want of therapy. It appears to be like like he has a groin challenge and Stefan Ortega has been despatched to heat up.
67 min: James McAtee is booked for a late lunge on Jefferson Lerma as the sport begins to get a bit of scrappy.
66 min: There’s a prolonged break in play as Eberechi Eze receives therapy for what seems to be an harm to his left ankle sustained in a coming-together with Kevin De Bruyne. He hobbles to the touchline and play resumes.
64 min: Palace substitutions: Ben Chilwell and Nathaniel Clyne on for Maxence Lacroix and Tyrick Mitchell.
62 min: Having seen a replay of McAtee’s aim, it might be honest to say that I did Ederson a grave disservice by describing his inch-perfect 60-yard move into the trail of the goalscorer as “getting it launched” within the hit-and-hope fashion. He knew precisely what he was doing. Wow.
59 min: Henderson saves brilliantly from Marmoush, who had latched on to an excellent low cross from De Bruyne and blasted the ball on the goalkeeper from shut vary. Gundogan’s follow-up is blocked by a defender after which O’Reilly shoots over the bar. That is superb stuff and the cross from De Bruyne after he’d latched on to Kovacic’s defence-splitting by ball was beautiful.
GOAL! Man Metropolis 4-2 Crystal Palace (McAtee 56)
Metropolis rating once more! Ederson will get the ball launched and James McAtee pounces on it simply outdoors the Palace penalty space after darting between defenders. McAtee takes the ball across the onrushing Henderson with a deft contact after which slots it into an empty web. Half of Metropolis’s gamers rush to congratulate the goalscorer, whereas the remaining dash within the route of Ederson. That’s his fourth Premier League help of the season.
55 min: Maxence Lacroix is penalised and booked for a late problem on Kovacic. In contrast to his teammate Hughes, he can haven’t any complaints.
53 min: Metropolis proceed to dominate possession, barely giving Palace a contact. Will Hughes loses persistence and is penalised – harshly – for a foul on Kevin De Bruyne. He acquired the ball cleanly and Metropolis’s skipper simply tripped over his outstretched leg.
51 min: Marmoush squares the ball throughout the Palace penalty space for McAtee, who has acres of area during which to op[erate and a clear sight of goal but blasts high over the bar. It’s a bad miss.
49 min: Hats off to Ilkay Gundogan, who picked out O’Reilly with an exquisite pass to the byline played between Richards and Daniel Munoz. The youngster stayed onside and was instrumental in setting up the goal.
GOAL! Man City 3-2 Crystal Palace (Kovacic 47)
City lead! Nico O’Reilly pulls the ball back to De Bruyne from the byline. Unable to take a shot, the City skipper lays the ball off to Kovacic, who lashes a low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. His effort survives a VAR check for an offside in the build-up.
46 min: Ismaila Sarr has moved into Mateta’s position up front for Palace, while Hughes has taken up position in the middle of the pitch for his side.
Second half: Man City 2-2 Crystal Palace
46 min: Play resumes with Palace on the ball and Will Hughes on for Jean-Philippe Mateta in what seems a weird change, unless the Palace striker is injured.
An email: “New VAR technology introduced the same week City need to get on their bike for Europe,” writes Kieran. “Has just denied a third goal for Palace. That then gives City a lifeline to get some points. As an Arsenal fan, I know exactly what this means.”
All it means is that Eze was offside. His effort would have been ruled out with or without the new technology, it just would have taken a lot longer for the VAR officials to make their decision if it wasn’t available to them.
Half-time: Man City 2-2 Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace went ahead against the run of play when the unmarked Eberechi Eze stroked home Ismaila Sarr’s cross at the far post, before Chris Richards doubled their lead with a header from close range at a corner. Palace thought they’d gone three up through Eze, only for their talisman’s effort to be ruled out for a tight offside. Ismaila Sarr was also guilty of missing a gilt-edge chance, when shooting over from six yards.
Manchester City hit the post through Kevin De Bruyne, who went on to smack the ball home off the same upright with a free-kick. Omar Marmoush restored parity with a low drive from just outside the six-yard box, before De Bruyne missed a glorious chance to put his side ahead in added time just before the break. It’s all square at the Etihad, where City have been very much in the ascendency since scoring their first goal.
45+3 min: De Bruyne whips in a cross in from the left but it sails wide of the far post. It’s half-time in a fantastic game of football.
45+1 min: Kevin De Bruyne runs on to a pass from McAtee, taking Lacroix out of the game with a wonderful touch of his left foot. With a clear sight of goal, he blasts the ball high over the bar from about 10 yards. That’s a bad miss.
45 min: De Bruyne’s delivery into the Palace penalty area is cleared but Ismaila Sarr runs into a wall of light blue resistance as he tries to break forward on the counter-attack. We’ll have three minutes of add-ons to a thoroughly enjoyable first half.
44 min: Mateta is penalised for barging into the back of Gvardiol after Kamada had given the ball away with a sloppy pass. Free-kick for City, about 40 yards from the Palace goal.
43 min: We approach the end of a first half that has simply flown by with City continuing to assert their dominance. Nico O’Reilly coughs up cheap possession to Daniel Munoz, allowing Palace some momentary respite.
40 min: Nico Gonzalez gets booked for dragging out of Mateta’s shirt. He joins Daichi Kamada, who was booked for the foul that led to City’s opening goal, in the referee’s notebook.
38 min: From being within a toenail of going three goals up, Crystal Palace have been pegged back by two quick-fire goals from Manchester City and look completely rattled. They’re defending incredibly deeply and given the current state of play, will do well to go in level at the break.
GOAL! Man City 2-2 Crystal Palace (Marmoush 36)
City are level! Omar Marmoush smashes the ball home through a thicket of legs from eight yards out after Ilkay Gundogan had completely miskicked a Kevin De Bruyne header across the face of goal from a James McAtee cross. It’s all square!
35 min: James McAtee leaps but can’t get enough of his head on the ball to steer Omar Marmoush’s excellent cross from the left on target. This is a terrific game of football!
GOAL! Man City 1-2 Crystal Palace (De Bruyne 33)
City pull one back! With Dean Henderson slightly wrongfooted, De Bruyne curls the ball just past the Palace wall and watches in delight as it goes in off the post.
32 min: City win a free-kick a few yards outside the Palace penalty area, directly in front of goal. Kamada fouled Nico gonjzalez to give City the set-piece, from which they score …
Palace have a third goal ruled out!
28 min: Eberechi Eze curls a low shot past Ederson from about 15 yards after receiving the ball from Sarr but semi-automated offside technology rides to the home side’s rescue. It’s a shame, as Eze had no reason to be offside. City are being eviscerated down both flanks, particularly the right.