Oliver Glasner’s Palace side are well known for their style of play and they continued to show their countering attacking prowess in the early stages.
Moments after James McAtee missed a one-on-one against Dean Henderson, Ismailia Sarr timed his run well on the right and squared the ball across to Eberechi Eze, who was alone at the back post to tap Palace ahead.
City rallied forward to find a response, but it was from a corner that we found ourselves 2-0 down, as Chris Richards rose highest to head the ball in from an Adam Wharton inswinging corner.
CITY 5-2 CRYSTAL PALACE | MATCH REPORT
Kevin De Bruyne was closest to pulling a goal back as his curling effort rebounded against the post, but a few minutes later he found himself stepping over a free-kick.
The Belgian’s set piece deflected off Wharton’s back and into the net with the Etihad at full volume.
Then it only took three minutes for Pep’s men to level the game at 2-2, after McAtee crossed to De Bruyne, who headed the ball back into the danger zone and Omar Marmoush drilled the ball into the net.
After half-time, City were fuelled with attacking energy, and after a clever run from Nico O’Reilly, the left-back played the ball to De Bruyne who laid it off to Mateo Kovacic to sweep home from the edge of the box.
City were in the mood for more and it came from an unlikely source.
Ederson played a long ball from one end of the pitch to the other to McAtee, who evaded a couple of defenders before rounding Henderson and passing the ball into the net.
The scoring was capped off by two of our Academy starlets, as McAtee chipped a ball into the box and it bounced to Nico O’Reilly who placed a pinpoint shot into the corner - his first in the Premier League!
View the best images from the game via our match gallery below …
