It was a tough night in South London as the visitors survived early pressure to hand the Eagles a beating in front of a packed Selhurst under the lights.
MATCH INFORMATION
| 28 August 2026 – 8pm |
| Crystal Palace 1-4 Manchester City |
| Premier League |
| Selhurst Park |
OFFICIALS
| Referee | Andy Madley |
| VAR | Stuart Atwell |
| Assistant Referees | Gary Beswick, Adrian Holmes |
| Fourth Official | Sam Allison |
| Assistant VAR | Edward Smart |
PLAYER RATINGS
Crystal Palace
| 1 | Dean HENDERSON © | 6.1 |
| 25 | Anan KHALAILI | 7.6 |
| 17 | Takehiro TOMIYASU | 6.1 |
| 26 | Chris RICHARDS | 6.1 |
| 6 | Jaydee CANVOT | 6.0 |
| 3 | Tyrick MITCHELL | 6.2 |
| 18 | Daichi KAMADA | 6.7 |
| 20 | Adam WHARTON | 6.7 |
| 10 | Yeremy PINO | 6.8 |
| 9 | Eddie NKETIAH | 6.1 |
| 22 | Jorgen Strand LARSEN | 6.7 |
| 2 | Daniel MUNOZ | – |
| 5 | Axel DISASI (for TOMIYASU 74 mins) | 6.2 |
| 8 | Jefferson LERMA | – |
| 11 | Dwight MCNEIL (for NKETIAH 68 mins) | 5.9 |
| 12 | Zavier GOZO (for PINO 68 mins) | 5.9 |
| 19 | Will HUGHES | – |
| 29 | Evann GUESSAND (for LARSEN 63 mins) | 5.9 |
| 30 | Oscar MINGUEZA (for KHALAILI 75 mins) | 6.0 |
| 44 | Walter BENITEZ | – |
Manchester City
| 1 | Gianluigi DONNARUMMA | 6.0 |
| 45 | Abdukodir KHUSANOV | 7.2 |
| 3 | Rubem DIAS | 7.4 |
| 6 | Marc GUEHI | 7.5 |
| 24 | Josko GVARDIOL | 7.1 |
| 5 | Elliot ANDERSON | 7.7 |
| 33 | Nico O’REILLY | 6.9 |
| 47 | Phil FODEN | 8.0 |
| 42 | Antoine SEMENYO | 7.6 |
| 10 | Rayan CHERKI | 8.9 |
| 9 | Erling HAALAND | 8.7 |
| 8 | Mateo KOVACIC (for GVARDIOL 75 mins) | 6.2 |
| 21 | Rayan AIT-NOURI | – |
| 22 | Vitor REIS (for KHUSANOV 89 mins) | 6.0 |
| 28 | Geronimo RULLI | – |
| 30 | Claudio ECHEVERRI | – |
| 32 | Ayyoub BOUADDI (for ANDERSON 82 mins) | 6.3 |
| 56 | Ryan MCAIDOO (for CHERKI 82 mins) | 6.2 |
| 61 | Kaden BRAITHWAITE (for O’REILLY 89 mins) | 6.0 |
| 82 | Rico LEWIS | – |
POST GAME QUOTES
PIERRE SAGE
“We are together. I’m with my team every moment. We had a lot of chances, it’s difficult to have hope against this kind of team without scoring.
When you change players, you need more energy, I don’t find that. We know we are in a process, we know we must work. We must not accept this kind of situation, we deserved a better result. Two negative situations at the end.
We were late in our pre-season. Now we need substitutions. You can’t replace fatigue with low energy.”
ADAM WHARTON
“I’m disappointed. I thought we had a few good moments and got in some good positions. We didn’t test the keeper as much as we should have. That’s the difference in the game. They took their chances and we had a few half-decent ones, but also, we got into the positions and didn’t make the chances we should have.
We knew the gameplan, how we wanted to get into those positions. I thought, especially in the first half, we did that well. But then it’s just that last detail and at this level, that makes a big difference.”
ENZO MARESCA
“It is a tough pitch, we knew that before the game. The intensity on the team has been good. We scored four, probably could’ve scored more, only conceded one. Off the ball we were quite good, struggled for the first 10 minutes. On the ball, tried to put players into a position to attack.”
MATCH STATISTICS
| Star Man | Rayan CHERKI (8.9) |
| Goals | Erling HAALAND (17, 84), Rayan CHERKI (54, 59), Gianluigi DONNARUMMA (OG, 56) |
| Assists | Antoine SEMENYO (17), Phil FODEN (54, 84), Josko GVARDIOL (59) |
| Most shots | Erling HAALAND (5) |
| Most tackles | Anan KHALAILI (10) |
| Most dribbles | Anan KHALAILI, Rayan CHERKI, Nico O’REILLY (3) |
| Team rating | 6.31 – 7.11 |
| Total shots | 9 – 18 |
| Shots on target | 1 – 9 |
| Yellow cards | Rayan CHERKI (33), Elliot ANDERSON (55), Anan KAHLAILI (68) |
| Red cards | None |
| Possession | 27.8% – 72.2% |
| Pass success | 82% – 93% |
| Passes | 284 – 779 |
| Dribbles | 8 – 17 |
| Aerials won | 6 – 12 |
| Tackles | 32 – 15 |
| Fouls | 8 – 10 |
| Corners | 2 – 6 |
| Saves | 4 – 1 |
| Dispossessed | 8 – 14 |
TEB VERDICT
This is the only the second time that Pierre Sage has seen his team concede for goals – he saw his Lyon side lose 4-1 to PSG in April 2024.
Regardless, it has been quite a baptism for the Frenchman in English football and it is clear time is needed to allow the squad to adapt to his philosophy, but there are some signs, both in this defeat at last weekend on Merseyside.
These were two horrid fixtures in the annual Palace calendar that most fans are pleased to see the back of. The proof will be in the next few games and how the Eagles fare against Fulham and Ipswich, with a cup tie with Boro sandwiched in between.
The Eagles started very well and got the crowd behind them, but a familiar story, having not taken advantage of several chances it was the visitors that dampened the mood by striking first and they never looked back with Rayan Cherki in particular oozing class on a damp night in South London.
Getting these players up to speed and quickly is the key, and the next seven days on the training ground will be hugely important, with a small matter of the transfer window closing on Tuesday.
LEAGUE POSITION
| P | W | D | L | GD | PTS | ||
| 18 | Tottenham Hotspur | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -3 | 0 |
| 19 | Aston Villa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -4 | 0 |
| 20 | Crystal Palace | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -5 | 0 |
UPCOMING FIXTURES
| DATE | TEAM | LOCATION | COMPETITION | KICK OFF TIME |
| 05/09/2026 | Fulham | Away | Premier League | 3pm |
| 08/09/2026 | Middlesbrough | Home | EFL Cup | 7.45pm |
| 12/09/2026 | Ipswich Town | Home | Premier League | 3pm |
