Manchester City Seem Unstoppable In their March Towards A Season Quadruple! Match Highlights. Player Ratings. Manager Comments, And Stats.
By: Marc Gingell
In their quest for a season quadruple Manchester City seem unstoppable especially if teams, like Crystal Palace in this game, leave it too late to have a go at them. It seems teams are fearful of being crushed four, five or six nil, especially with City’s habit of scoring early goals. But this is Manchester City, possibly the best team in the world, so being crushed by them is expected so why not at least have a go!
| 14/4/2019 | Selhurst Park | Crystal Palace | 1-3 | Manchester City |
| KO:14:05 | ATT: 25,721 | Luka Milivojevic 81′ | Raheem Sterling 15′, 63′ | |
| REF: M Atkinson | Gabriel Jesus 90′ | |||
Palace Late Hope!
It took Palace until the last quarter, when they were losing 2-0, to find the belief that they could test City and in the 81st minute, things really became interesting when Luka Milivojevic rifled home a free kick. James McArthur, after a surging run, had been taken out by a mixture of Ilkay Gündogan and Vincent Kompany right on the edge of the box.
The crowd sensed that something could happen especially with Wilfried Zaha on the pitch and his ability to win late penalties. Up against Kyle Walker, sometimes prone to rash challenges, there was a strong sense of anticipation.
Gabriel Jesus – Puts Game To Bed
That anticipation completely evaporated in the 90th minute when substitute Gabriel Jesus put the game to bed. Kevin De Bruyne found Jesus on the left and he squeezed the ball in at the near post. Jesus has seven Premier League goals this season and he hasn’t had a lot of game time. City were back on top of the table for at least a couple of hours.
Early Goal Again
City were fast out of the traps and after 10 minutes should have taken the lead after good play on the left from David Silva. He found Raheem Sterling on the six-yard box with what seemed a simple tap in but Sterling tapped wide with his left foot. Five minutes later he made amends when put clear on the right by De Bruyne. He used his pace to get into a great position a fired a powerful shot above the crouching Vicente Guaita in Palace’s goal. If he’d had stood tall the ball would have hit him.
Manchester City Toy With Palace
For the next hour City toyed with Palace, and came close a few times, before Leroy Sané crossed low from the left and Sterling tapped in with his left foot from the edge of the six-yard box.
Manchester City On A Roll
Manchester City are on another roll and if they can beat Tottenham (Premier League) on Saturday they will have perfect 10 Premier League wins on the bounce.
Manchester City Final Premier League Fixtures
- Saturday. 20 Apr – KO 12:30. Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur.
- Wednesday 24 Apr – KO 20:00. Manchester United v Manchester City.
- Sunday 28th Apr – KO 14:05. Burnley v Manchester City.
- Saturday 4th May – KO 12:30. Manchester City v Leicester City.
- Sunday 12th May – KO 15:00. Brighton and Hove Albion v Manchester City
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VpIN22BcQg
Player Ratings
Crystal Palace: Guaita (5), Van Aanholt (5), Dann (5), Kelly (5), Wan-Bissaka (6), McArthur (5), Milivojevic (6), Schlupp (5), Townsend (5), Zaha (5), Benteke (5)
Subs: Kouyate (5), Meyer (5), Sako (5)
Manchester City: Ederson (5), Walker (7), Kompany (7), Laporte (7), Mendy (7), Gundogan (7), De Bruyne (8), David Silva (6), Sane (7), Sterling (8), Aguero (6)
Subs: Bernardo Silva (5), Jesus (6), Stones (5)
Man of the match: Raheem Sterling
Opta Stats
- Manchester City have won five away Premier League games against London sides this season, their highest ever number of victories in the capital within a single top-flight campaign.
- Crystal Palace have only won one of their last 13 Premier League games played on a Sunday (D3 L9), losing five of their last six such matches.
- Manchester City have scored 150 goals in all competitions this season, only the second time a top-flight side has managed that feat in all competitions in top-flight history, with Man City also doing so in 2013-14 (156 goals).
- Crystal Palace have lost 17 times in the Premier League this season, the joint-most defeats within a single campaign in the competition for a Roy Hogdson side alongside the 2011-12 season, whilst in charge of West Brom.
- Crystal Palace midfielder Luka Milivojevic is the first player this season to score both home and away in the Premier League against Manchester City.
- Sergio Agüero has failed to score in each of his six Premier League appearances at Selhurst Park (15 shots, 0 goals) – only at Anfield (7 apps) has the Argentine visited more often in the competition without finding the net.
- Raheem Sterling’s brace for Manchester City was his first ever double away from home for the Citizens, last scoring more than once on the road in any club competition back in December 2014 for Liverpool against Bournemouth.
- Kevin De Bruyne’s assist for Manchester City’s opening goal was his first in the Premier League in 336 days, last doing so before today on the final day of the 2017-18 season against Southampton.
- Gabriel Jesus has scored 19 goals for Manchester City in all competitions this season, averaging a goal every 112 minutes. Only Sergio Aguero (a goal every 99 mins) is averaging a goal at a quicker rate than the Brazilian for the club this season.
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