Man City put in a stunning hour of football, after a shocking opening half hour, to beat Crystal Palace 5-2 in the Premier League on Saturday.
If Manchester City’s 0-0 draw against Man United in the previous game was boring, then this Crystal Palace game at the Etihad was anything but.
Pep Guardiola watched on as his side went two goals behind to then come back on level terms by half-time, with Kevin De Bruyne scoring a free-kick and then Omar Marmoush netting his sixth Premier League goal of the campaign.
Mateo Kovacic then completed the comeback after the break, with further goals coming from James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly to seal an emphatic win against an in form Crystal Palace side.
Man City player ratings vs Crystal Palace
Ederson – 6/10
Flapped at Crystal Palace’s second goal which came from a beautiful corner from Man City transfer target Adam Wharton. Pulled off a nice assists for McAtee’s goal in the second half before coming off injured.
Nico O’Reilly – 7/10
A lot of the play came down his left side in the first half, a lot of which he struggled to stand up against. But on the whole it was another good performance from the teen who especially looks good going forward.
Josko Gvardiol – 7/10
Steady as ever. Some really crucial interventions that went under the radar. It’ll be interesting to see if Pep continues with Gvardiol in the middle with O’Reilly impressing on the left.
Ruben Dias – 6/10
Struggled early on with Ebere Eze constantly dropping off his shoulder. But moved the ball about nicely and commanded the game with much more confidence in the second half, when City got back in front.
Rico Lewis – 6/10
Not his finest performance, though he settled into the game in the second half as Man City as a unit settled into the game a lot more. Certainly another star in the making.
Nico Gonzalez – 6/10
Didn’t have much to do other than keeping play ticking along. Steady, albeit without doing anything overly-spectacular in the game.
Mateo Kovacic – 6/10
Not a great first half for the Croatian. Ran about somewhat aimlessly with some stray passing to top it off, and in both halves. But he scored a well-taken goal that got Man City back in front after the break. Battled well, too.
Kevin De Bruyne – 9/10
As good as we’ve seen him in a long time in the first half. Should’ve had more goals than he did, but his free-kick was beautifully taken. Then popped up with an assist in the second half to give Man City fans a bit of a throwback performance. Great stuff.
Ilkay Gundogan – 6/10
Barely got involved in what was a very fluid attack for Man City. Got himself an assist though and was tidy on the ball, though like Nico he didn’t seem to do anything that influential in the game, playing a quite hybrid role.
James McAtee – 6/10
Poor in the first 45. Squandered one really good chance but did play a delightful little chip cross in the build up to Marmoush’s goal. Eventually got himself on the scoresheet after rounding the Palace goalkeeper, though he should’ve had more on the day.
Omar Marmoush – 7/10
Took his goal well to continue his prolific run of form. Put in the yards throughout but at times looked a bit isolate, perhaps in the wrong areas of the pitch at times.
