Manchester City dispatched a troubled Crystal Palace in style, capped by a stunning effort by Fabian Delph to make it a 5-0 occasion to the Citizens.
Crystal Palace started the game strong, looking most threatening on the counter-attack but were unable to conjure up anything to find the back of the net.
Manchester City produced a near perfect second half display, which is encouraging as the head into another Champions League game and a fixture against Chelsea.
Leroy Sane the catalyst for Man City, aided by team mates David Silva and Sergio Aguero.
Serious trouble for Crystal Palace defensively, and even more trouble upfront as they seem to have no one in their squad capable of finding the back of the net.
Crystal Palace succumbed to another crushing defeat, this time at the Etihad to Pep Guardiolas men. Yet again Palace failed to find the back of the net and show their fans any promise for the future.
New Palace manager Roy Hodgson still to show any sign of turning The Eagles fortunes. He sat watching as his side was dismantled by the Man City attack after an energetic first 20 mins from his men.
The Palace defense was picked apart by Manchester City all afternoon, it wouldn’t be surprising to see any of the other top six sides inflict similar damage to this Palace side if there isn’t any adjustments made to their defensive shape.
Palace looked promising on the counter in the opening exchanges as the pressing City attack got caught out a few times when possession was lost. Loftus-Cheek looking the most likely to score but he was denied by a good save by Ederson. Andros Townsend was a work horse as ever for Palace.
Crystal Palace problems for the afternoon were made worse by the loss of Christian Benteke, who came off injured in the second half (replaced by Bakary Sako).
Manchester City looked aggressive from the start, pressing hard in attack. Their first goal would have come sooner if it wasn’t for a very good stop by Palace goal keeper Wayne Hennessey. Unfortunately for Palace this trend did not continue as Leroy Sane convert a beautiful little chip from David Silva to make it 1-0 City, just before the half-time break.
1-0 for Palace at half-time would have felt reasonable for the visitors given the multitude of Man City attacks they sustained in the first forty five minutes. This scoreline remained only temporarily though, as the hosts came out firing in the second half, scoring two goals within fifteen minutes of the second half starting.
Both goals came through the menacing Raheem Sterling , the first (51st minute) was assisted by Leroy Sane and the second in the (59th minute) from short range assisted by Sergio Aguero. 3-0 down Palace looked dejected and tired as the game was surely dead and buried for them.
The healthy attacking arsenal that Man City boasts didn’t stop its assault on the Palace defense,it wasn’t long before star striker Sergio Aguero added to his tally for the season. Aguero latched onto a cross from Leroy Sane to make it 4-0 Man City (79th minute).
Fabian Delph was to deliver the last blow for City in the 5-0 romp, and boy it was a stunning strike to the top right corner of the goal. Nothing the keeper could do and it was definitely the pick of the bunch. This capped off a miserable afternoon for Palace yet again failing to score in the Premier League this season.
Man of the Match: Leroy Sane
Sane was instrumental in a Man City attack which is bursting with talent. He gave the hosts momentum with his first goal and added to the Palace collapse with two assists for his fellow team mates.
Written by Cameron Harrison.
