MATCH FACTS
- Date – 22nd December 2018
- Venue – Etihad Stadium
- Attendance – 54,340
- Referee – Andre Marriner
- Cards – Guaita, Zaha, McArthur
- Goals – Gundogan (27), Schlupp (33), Townsend (35), Milivojevic (52), de Bruyne (85)
- STAR EAGLE – Andros Townsend (8.6)
TEB VERDICT
What a game. What a performance. What a win! Palace just love getting involved in the Premier League title race and they did so again away at the Eithad stadium. With the bookies and general consensus going against the Eagles as they took on reigning champions Manchester City, it was to everyone’s suprise when Palace equalised through Jeffrey Schlupp. If that wasn’t enough, Andros Townsend stunned the football world with a contender for goal of the season, firing home on the volley and into the top corner. The game was then tilted again in the visitors’ favour as Luka Miliojevic coolly convert past old foe Ederson which proved to be the all important difference.
Palace had not won away in Manchester since 1990. The last time came against City at Maine Road 28 years ago to the day. Football can be a bizzare game but it is times like these we should cherish. The underdog can have its day.
PLAYER RATINGS (courtesy of Who Scored)
31 VICENTE GUAITA (6.0) – Hodgson has a big call on his hands when Wayne Hennessey comes back from injury in terms of who to pick. The Spaniard has proved his worth with two wins out of two and will be hard to look past.
29 AARON WAN-BISSAKA (7.5) – Yet another exceptional performance against a very talented side and winger Leroy Sane. Pundit Alan Shearer raved about him on Match of the Day and I would be surpised if Palace still have the full back next season.
5 JAMES TOMKINS (6.8) – His partnership with Mamadou Sakho is the best outside the top six and was on show against City as they stopped the hosts on a number of occassions by keeping Jesus and Sergio Aguero very quiet. A late double block summed up his game.
12 MAMADOU SAKHO (6.6) – Copy and paste above. Solid throughout bar one miss-placed pass but commanded the backline with his partner in crime.
3 PATRICK VAN AANHOLT (6.7) – Took the free kick that led to Townsend’s superb goal. Lucky to stay on the pitch following a challenge on Kevin de Bruyne, but played his part in a dogged back line display.
15 JEFFREY SCHLUPP (8.0) – His best game in a Palace shirt and proved his worth with a very good goal a day before his birthday. Happy birthday Jeff!
4 LUKA MILIVOJEVIC (7.7) – Back to the Luka we know and love after a poor start to the season. Took his penalty well against Ederson who saved his attempt last season at Selhurst.
18 JAMES MCARTHUR (7.1) – Usual business resumed for the Scotsman, played a part in Schupp’s goal despite looking like being fouled off the ball.
7 MAX MEYER (7.0) – Played well out wide and was crucial to the win with his quick feet and ability to pick out a pass Cabaye-esque. In the right place to win the penalty. Replaced by 42 JASON PUNCHEON (6.0) on 90 minutes to see out the game.
10 ANDROS TOWNSEND (8.6) – What is there to say apart from WHAT A GOAL! We have been saying for weeks that Andros is one of the hardest workers in the team but needs to add more goals to his game and he’s only gone and done that. Goal of the season here at TEB, that’s for sure.
11 WILFRIED ZAHA (6.5) – A decent performance which was a real imporveent after recent weeks. His take down that led to Schlupp’s goal was fantastic and very underrated. Replaced by 14 JORDAN AYEW (6.0) on 88 minutes who was unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty late on.
Unused substitutes – 1 Julian Speroni, 2 Joel Ward, 6 Scott Dan, 44 Jairo Riedewald, 9 Alexander Sorloth
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAID
ROY HODGSON: “You don’t produce that sort of performance by waving a magic wand or having a five-minute team talk, there’s a lot of work that goes into that structure and we were excellent. We are playing against a team with enormous skill levels and their focus, their ability to sustain attacks, is an example to us all. I was really pleased with the way the lads worked hard for us. All the credit needs to go to the players. We scored three good goals.”
PEP GUARDIOLA: “We started quite decent and created chances. We scored a fantastic goal and after they passed the halfway line they scored. The third goal… we cannot concede the penalty we conceded. We have to try and avoid it. Palace had three shots on target and scored three goals. Football is like this. It’s complicated but we fight until the last second. We are in December and we will try and recover and try to win games again.”
MATCH STATISTICS
The Who Scored man of the match was Andros Townsend (8.6) while Leroy Sane (5) had the most shots. Aaron Wan-Bissaka (7) made the most tackles as Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling, Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha (2) made the most dribbles.
- Team rating: 6.64 – 6.95
- Total shots: 19 – 5
- Shots on target: 5 – 3
- Possession: 78.3% – 21.7%
- Pass success: 89% – 56%
- Dribbles: 9 – 5
- Aerials won: 20 – 17
- Tackles: 18 – 25
- Corners: 13 – 0
- Dispossessed: 12 – 9
POSITION IN THE TABLE
Palace are 14th in the Premier League with 18 points from 18 games, three points behind Brighton & Hove Albion in 13th and a point ahead of Newcastle United in 15th.
NEXT THREE FIXTURES
- 26/12/2018 Cardiff City (h)
- 30/12/2018 Chelsea (h)
- 02/01/2019 Wolverhampton Wanderers (a)
