Manchester City fell further behind league leader Chelsea after succumbing to a 2-1 defeat against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Manuel Pellegrini’s men came into the match nine points behind league leader Chelsea. Like the Blues, Manchester United and Arsenal also secured all three points against their opponents over the weekend, meaning City started the game at Selhurst Park in fourth place. The pressure was firmly on the shoulders of the Sky Blues as they visited Crystal Palace in London.
The Eagles managed to pull off yet another upset and extended their run of good form. They have now taken all three points from Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City on their home turf. Alan Pardew has yet again proven that he is the right man for the job, with another solid victory. Palace has now managed 12 points in their last six matches. Only the current top three of Arsenal, United and Chelsea have done better. City, meanwhile, continue their horrid form away from home, having now lost their last three games away from the Etihad.
Aguero struggles again
Sergio Aguero continued his struggles in front of goal at Selhurst Park. The Argentine has only managed three goals in his last 11 appearances for City in the league, a fairly poor return when you take into account the fact he scored 14 goals in the first 14 games of the season. Ever since his knee injury earlier in the season, the otherwise deadly striker has clearly struggled. In the 18th minute of the game, Aguero came agonisingly close to ending his drought when his shot cannoned off the upright. He managed just a couple more shots for the rest of the game. City will be desperately looking to the Argentine to rediscover his goalscoring touch in their final few games of the season.
The importance of taking your chances
It was not necessarily the case of ‘you shoot, you score’ at Selhurst Park. City had a total of 22 shots in the 90 minutes, although only a meagre four of them were on target. Yaya Toure managed City’s only goal of the game, when he scored a belter from the edge of the casino online box. On the other hand, the hosts had just five shots in total, with three of them on target. Wilfried Zaha almost rued his missed chance in the first minute, when his close-range shot blazed over Joe Hart’s goal. But Crystal Palace proved to be efficient enough with its opportunities, scoring either side of the half time whistle. Glenn Murray slotted home from close range before Jason Puncheon scored a beautiful free kick to make it 2-0 to the home side. City will feel slightly unlucky as they may feel they should have had a penalty after the ball struck Murray’s hand in the box.
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City need a miracle
A miracle; that is what City require now if they want to retain their title. City, who have been dominant at home this season, are left with just three away games. Those matches, however, are against neighbours Manchester United, Tottenham and Swansea City. With Chelsea extending its lead at the top and Arsenal and United creeping ahead, City will need no less than a miracle to claim top spot, now sitting two points behind the Gunners.
Palace on the other hand, will hope to continue their fine form as they aim to finish in the top half of the table, in what would be a huge turnaround by manager Alan Pardew.
Countdown to game week 38
With seven games to go for most of the teams, City must now depend on the teams above them to slip up. They can take positives from the fact that Chelsea is yet to play Arsenal, United and Liverpool. A slim chance for the title still stands for Pellegrini’s men, but it is all uphill from here.
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