Manchester City have faced a lot of obstacles in the league title race this season, with Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez leaving, De Bruyne injured and Rodri suspended, a wave of 1 draw and 3 defeats have wiped out the advantage that has been accumulated before. In the 17th round of the English Premier League, Manchester City returned to the Etihad Stadium to play against Crystal Palace, and in the case of a two-goal lead, Manchester City was finally drawn by Crystal Palace, and finally was forced to draw 2:2 and failed to return to the top three of the league.
Palace are on a 12-game winless run and would have been close to the relegation zone had it not been for the overly stretched performance of the three promoted teams. Haaland was still absent in this game, Doku was also not in the squad due to a hamstring injury, Alvarez played the lone arrow, Foden, Grealish and B formed the second attacking line, Rico Lewis and Rodri were in the back, Walker, Dias, Ake and Gvardiol combined in the backline, and Ederson was in goal.
Due to the difference in strength, Manchester City almost kicked the game into a half-court drill in the entire first half; in the 4th minute, the right side of the B seat held the ball back, Walker crossed directly from the ribs, Alvarez stepped in front of the head to attack, Dean Henderson blocked the ball out of the bottom line; in the 9th minute, Dias inserted and came with a long-range shot slightly above the crossbar; in the 10th minute, Manchester City successfully counter-attacked in front, Rico Lewis advanced and knocked horizontally, Rodri shot wide with the outside of the instep at the top of the arc, Rodri shot from a distance, but such a difficult shot did not lack some fire。
In the 15th minute, Manchester City was still making a fuss on the right side, B seat was plugged through, Rico Lewis cut in at high speed to cross the bottom, and Rodri pushed the shot to the leg of Guehi, which refracted and grazed the post and rolled out of the bottom line. In the 24th minute, Foden received a direct pass from Dias at the edge of the penalty area and turned around and broke through the Crystal Palace backline, Grealish pushed the far corner, and after VAR verification for 2 minutes, it was determined that there was no offside, 1:0! In the absence of Haaland, few people may think that Grealish stepped up, and his winning goal in the last round helped Manchester City beat and win, this is the first time in his career, and he has scored in three consecutive league games for the first time in his career.
In the 30th minute, Rodri made a long pass over the top accurately, and Gvardiol's push was blocked by Henderson; in the 35th minute, B crossed, Crystal Palace cleared the ball and did not kick far, Gvardiol on the left side picked the ball past Olise and shot low into the near corner, Dean Henderson blocked sideways, and the ball hit the side netting; In the 40th minute, Gvardiol knocked back the ball in the penalty area, Foden saw that the defenders did not stick to the defense outside the penalty area, and after a slight adjustment, a long-range shot grazed the post and was slightly off. In the 42nd minute, Mateta's front court suddenly got up and stepped forward to shake off the defense, Ederson did not hesitate and immediately abandoned the goal and swept down Mateta outside the penalty area to receive a yellow card, and from the slow motion, Ederson shoveled him down after Mateta stabbed the ball, and it was not an exaggeration to show a red card for this foul.
In the 52nd minute of the second half, Alvarez took a direct free kick from the left side and went straight to the goal, Rodri "dribbled a shot" in front of the goal, and the ball also flew into the goal, and the linesman immediately signaled Rodri to interfere with the goalkeeper in an offside position, and the goal was invalid; in the 54th minute, Manchester City made a comeback, Grealish held the ball on the left side and passed diagonally, Foden stepped forward, Rodri stuck his position, and Rico Lewis shot into the net to expand the advantage, 2:0! This is Rico Lewis's first goal in the Premier League.
In the 62nd minute, Foden's breakthrough was unsuccessful, and the B seat followed up in time with a powerful long-range shot from the periphery, and Dean Henderson flew to make a wonderful save! In the 76th minute, Schlupp reversed to the front field and received a long pass from his teammates, and then broke through to the penalty area to defend Dias's cross, and Mateta grabbed a point and shoveled back a city, 2:1!
Seeing that the score was narrowed, Guardiola, who did not have extra manpower on the offensive end, did not dare to adjust, and could only regain control of the possession and try to hold the advantage. However, the accident still happened in stoppage time, in the 95th minute, Foden wanted to clear the ball in the penalty area, but the result was a kick to Mateta, the referee decisively blew a penalty, Olise scored a penalty to stage a perfect match, 2:2!