Determined to hit the Premier League for four consecutive titles this season, the Blue Moon Army Manchester City, but encountered stubborn resistance, the first 16 rounds, they achieved a record of 10 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses, behind Liverpool in the Premier League standings. Arsenal and Aston Villa, temporarily in fourth place, although the gap with the leader Liverpool is not big, only 4 points behind, but if they want to keep the hope of catching up, they must not continue to let the opponent widen the difference, this week in the 17th round of the Premier League, Manchester City sat at home to face Crystal Palace, last season's home and away Blue Moon Army double killed the opponent, and now meet again, whether the pace of winning streak can be continued, it has become the biggest attraction of this game! After the start of the game, Manchester City completely suppressed Crystal Palace on the field, a goal and a successful instigation of Mr. Grealish helped Manchester City take a two-goal lead, but Mateta's goal and Olise's equalizer allowed Crystal Palace to take a point from the Etihad Stadium 2-2!
Although the overall quality of Crystal Palace is not strong, Pep Guardiola still fielded the strongest team he can put on at home, in a 4-2-3-1 system, continue to trust Ederson to guard the goal, Gvardiol, Ake, Dias and Walker form a back four, Rodri and Lewis partner in a back two, Grealish, Foden and Bernardo Silva form a midfield three, and the single striker has Alvarez Jr. starting in place of the injured Haaland.
On the other hand, Crystal Palace, which traveled to the away side, directly used the iron bucket formation of five defenders and four midfielders, and wanted to rely on the numerical advantage to stop the attack of the Blue Moon Army, after the game started, Manchester City firmly controlled the ball at their feet, relying on delicate foot technology, and constantly penetrated into the opponent's goal, Alvarez received a cross from Walker in the 5th minute, completed a header on goal, but was saved by the opponent's goalkeeper.
In the 16th minute, two midfielders stepped forward to the Crystal Palace penalty area to complete a very threatening attack, Lewis made an inverted triangle pass on the right side of the penalty area, found Rodri who followed up in the middle, the latter did not stop the ball and pushed it directly, and the Crystal Palace goalkeeper subconsciously stretched his leg to block the ball off the bottom line.
In the 24th minute, Manchester City's furious attack finally paid off, Foden received a pass from his teammates at the front of the penalty area, turned around, and then a straight stopper, broke through the defense of Crystal Palace, Mr. Grealish did not stop the ball and pushed it directly into the far corner, helping Manchester City to take a 1-0 lead, before the end of the half, there was a controversial scene, Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson took the initiative to attack, with a tackle kicked over the opposing attacking player, defused the counterattack of Crystal Palace, but the referee only gave him a yellow card, from the slow motion point of view This is a very dangerous action, it should be a red card。
Soon after the start of the second half, Manchester City broke the opponent's goal again, Alvarez's free kick from the left side of the field flew directly into the Crystal Palace goal, but Rodri's offside interfered with the judgment of the opposing goalkeeper, and the referee also canceled the goal, but in the 54th minute, Manchester City still extended the lead, Grealish's pass caused chaos in the Crystal Palace penalty area, Lewis scored in the scramble, helping Manchester City extend the advantage to 2-0, which was also the first Premier League goal of his career.
In the next time, Manchester City still suppressed Crystal Palace on the field, but the big pressure on the attack also gave the opponent a chance to counterattack, in the 76th minute, Crystal Palace's long pass directly launched a counterattack, Mateta scored a face-saving goal for the team, chasing the score to 1-2, injury time, Foden put down Mateta in the penalty area, the referee gave Crystal Palace a penalty, Olise scored a penalty in the 95th minute, helping the team draw 2-2 Manchester City!
With Ederson escaping a red card, Manchester City did not hold on to a two-goal lead at home and were held to a draw by Crystal Palace, which certainly did not satisfy the fans, and also gave the two major title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal an opportunity to continue to extend their lead!