CRYSTAL PALACE 2 MANCHESTER CITY 1
Crystal Palace - Murray 34', Puncheon 48'
Manchester City - Toure 78'
Man of the match - Jason Puncheon (Crystal Palace)
Jonathan Wilson
Premier League correspodent
For Manchester City, the slump gets worse and worse.
Since beating Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup on January 4, they have won just four out of their 14 games in all competitions, a run that has resulted in them being eliminated from the FA Cup and the Uefa Champions League.
A third defeat in five Premier League games has surely ended any lingering hope of winning the league and, having slumped to fourth place, the only challenge remaining is to make sure they qualify for the Champions League.
Their lead over Liverpool, who sit in fifth place, is seven points, so that should not be in doubt, but that will be of small comfort given the investment that has been made in the team and the quality that is contained in the squad.
This was another weary, disjointed performance from the English champions in which, worryingly, they seemed to have less hunger for the fight than a Crystal Palace side for whom there is nothing left to play this season.
If there any vague concerns about relegation lingered at Selhurst Park, they were extinguished, surely, by a victory that lifted them 13 points clear of the relegation zone.
City, perhaps, will today consider themselves somewhat unfortunate.
It is true that they enjoyed long spells of possession and they certainly had chances to score – although perhaps not as many as their control of the ball would have warranted.
The visitrs had legitimate complaints about Palace’s opening goal possibly being offside, and they should have had a penalty kick when Glenn Murray handled in the area with 20 minutes remaining.
But there was also a pervasive slackness about them that meant Palace’s thrusts, while fewer in number, always seemed the more potent.
After making a familiar, lacklustre start, City spent the bulk of the first half in the Palace half.
Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni was fortunate that David Silva’s shot hit his shoulder after he had slipped while trying to recover his ground after Sergio Aguero, chasing a Joe Hart clearance, had gone past him, and Aguero then hit the post with a low shot from the edge of the box.
No side has enjoyed more possession in the Premier League than City this season and no side has had less of it than Palace, so perhaps it was no great surprise that City dominated the ball.
But the more City pressed without reward, the more it felt inevitable, given how City’s season has gone, that Palace would score. Sure enough, with 34 minutes gone, they did.
A corner from the right was cleared, but Joel Ward returned the ball to the edge of the box.
When Joe Ledley flicked on, Scott Dann was just offside, but the referee Michael Oliver allowed play to continue and although Hart blocked Dann’s effort, the ball rolled across the six-yard box for Murray to knock it in.
City probably had cause to feel aggrieved at that, but more decisive defending would have prevented the situation from ever arising, and there was further sloppiness in Palace’s second two minutes into the second half.
Murray ran away from Silva and Martin Demichelis and was needlessly chopped down by Fernandinho, giving Palace a free kick 25 yards out that Jason Puncheon flicked over the wall and in.
For a while City seemed stunned, but the departure of the disappointing Edin Dzeko – just two goals in his last 22 games – for Frank Lampard gave them renewed impetus.
Yaya Toure pulled one back with a fierce shot from just outside the box. Palace looked exhausted by then, but the City surge came too late.
It was another game City lost almost despite themselves. Yes, there was an element of misfortune about the result, but with a more clinical, more disciplined approach that would not have mattered.
City were unlucky, but then they were also culpably lacking in urgency.
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