Richard Jolly
The importance of goalscorers is displayed frequently but rarely as starkly. Sergio Aguero can be prolific. Crystal Palace are increasingly impotent.
The reigning Golden Boot winner duly scored twice while Palace, who have had a solitary league goal from a specialist striker all season, saw their drought extended to a fifth top-flight game.
The away-day specialists were vanquished. They had their chances – admittedly, the two best fell to centre-back Damien Delaney – but took none.
Manchester City were clinical and deserved their 4-0 victory.
“They had four shots on target,” said Palace manager Alan Pardew. They scored four times. “It was a strange game,” Pardew added.
Read more: Greg Lea on Mousa Dembele showing he can be the man to rev Tottenham's engine
While the scoreline was emphatic, City were below their best for long spells, but their capacity to prove deadly ensured that mattered not.
After the frustration of Wednesday’s stalemate with Everton, they could savour the sense that normal service has been resumed, in more ways than one.
In a stop-start, injury-hit season, Aguero had only mustered two league goals since his quintet against Newcastle on the first Saturday in October.
A double signalled a return to form while he eschewed the chance of a hat-trick to selflessly set up David Silva for City’s fourth.
And with or without Aguero, City are a force on their own turf. This was their 16th victory in 19 Premier League games at the Etihad.
Those they do not win, whether the draw with Everton or the defeats to West Ham United and Liverpool, tend to attract more attention, but it remains a remarkable home record.
The outcome displayed consistency, the performance less so. City were unconvincing initially, but they can play in fits and spurts and have players who can score goals from nothing. The surprise was that Fabian Delph proved one of them.
City struck with their first meaningful attack, the midfielder’s skimming drive escaping Wayne Hennessey’s grasp. It completed a bad week for the Welshman, who was guilty of a more glaring error when Joleon Lescott scored Aston Villa’s winner on Tuesday.
“I need to see a reaction from him,” said Pardew, who is considering dropping Hennessey.
Nor is fortune favouring him: perhaps Hennessey would have saved Aguero’s 25-yard shot but for a deflection off Scott Dann’s head.
The Argentine’s second came from a lovely move, Yaya Toure and Kevin De Bruyne combining as the latter teed up Aguero.
The Ivorian had begun on the bench, in a belated recognition the 32-year-old requires the occasional rest. He has started 28 games this season, the most of any City player, but just one of the last three.
He was introduced with City two goals to the good, with Manuel Pellegrini rationalising that Aleksandar Kolarov’s calf injury meant he needed another tall player to defend set-pieces.
His introduction curtailed Kelechi Iheanacho’s second league start; given the feeling the teenager has been underused, his removal felt all the more needless.
Palace had conceded twice to Iheanacho earlier this season. They suffered at others’ hands on this occasion. They have now met City three times, losing by an aggregate score of 10-1.
That is an unfair reflection on their efforts. Delaney could have scored twice within the opening 25 minutes; arguably he should have converted Connor Wickham’s first-minute cross.
Yet the fact Joe Hart saved, just as he did from Yohan Cabaye later, reflected the way things are going for Palace. “We got in some great positions,” Pardew said.
But they have not scored in the league since December 19. Their drought has coincided with Yannick Bolasie’s hip injury and, minus the unpredictable winger, they required a threat from others.
While Pardew praised Wickham, his replacement, Marouane Chamakh, was booked for a ludicrous dive.
Palace went down in another sense, losing for the third game in a row.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
