Man City vs Crystal Palace final score, result as Eagles late show stuns champions

By | December 16, 2023
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ETIHAD STADIUM, MANCHESTER — Michael Olise’s stoppage-time penalty landed another body blow on Manchester City’s bid for a fourth successive Premier League title as Crystal Palace stole a 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium.

City were cruising at 2-0 up heading into the final quarter of an hour thanks to Jack Grealish’s third goal in his past three league matches and Rico Lewis’ maiden strike in England’s top flight.

But Kyle Walker switched off as Marc Guehi aimed a raking pass down the City right in the 76th minute. Jeffrey Schlupp crossed for a sliding Jean-Philippe Mateta to back up his successfully converted penalty against Liverpool last weekend.

And an increasingly frantic City, who have let last-minute leads slip from their grasp against Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur over recent weeks, were left to rue not putting the game to bed when a panicked Phil Foden brought down Mateta and Olise coolly did the rest.

Even allowing for City’s wretched record when it comes to holding onto leads recently, the dramatic denouement felt unforeseeable from the moment Grealish swept home Foden’s cute pass and the goal stood after a lengthy VAR check.

Foden, Julian Alvarez and Josko Gvardiol all went close as City hogged almost 74% of possession before halftime. Palace’s best chance came when Michael Olise rippled the top of the netting with a 44th-minute free-kick after Ederson was booked for rashly bringing down Mateta — a taster of the collective lack of composure to come.

Alvarez whipped home a free-kick early in the second period, only for Rodri to be deemed interfering from an offside position on review.  

Palace did not make the most of that reprieve as Grealish and Rodri were both involved to give boyhood City fan Lewis what should have been a game-sealing moment.

As it happens, Guardiola’s squad head to the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia with their domestic title slipping away. By the time they play their next Premier League game at Goodison Park on December 27, they could be 12 points behind leaders Liverpool.

Man City vs Crystal Palace result

  Fulltime Goalscorers
Man City 2 Grealish ’24, Lewis ’54
Palace 2 Mateta ’76, Olise ’90+5

Lineups:

Man City (4-3-3, right to left): 31. Ederson (GK) — 2. Kyle Walker, 3. Ruben Dias, 6. Nathan Ake, 24. Josko Gvardiol — 82. Rico Lewis, 16. Rodri, 20. Bernardo Silva — 47. Phil Foden,  21. Julian Alvarez, 10. Jack Grealish.

Crystal Palace (5-4-1, right to left): 30. Dean Henderson (GK) — 17. Nathaniel Clyne (10. Eberechi Eze), 2. Joel Ward (52. David Ozoh), 16. Joachim Anderson, 6. Marc Guehi, 3. Tyrick Mitchell— 7. Michael Olise, 44. Jairo Riedewald (29. Naouirou Ahamada), 26. Chris Richards, 15. Jeffrey Schlupp (11. Matheus Franca) — 14. Jean-Philippe Mateta.

MORE: Erling Haaland injured: Latest on Man City striker’s foot injury concern and possible Club World Cup return

Man City’s late slips gifting Premier League title to Liverpool and Arsenal

Last-gasp winning goals are often seen as the sign of champions, especially in English football since it fell under the mythic spell of “Fergie Time” during the 1990s.

Arsenal and Liverpool are more than doing their bit in this regard this season. See Declan Rice’s winner for the Gunners deep into stoppage time at Luton Town or Wataru Endo and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s late show as Liverpool turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 win over Fulham at Anfield earlier this month.

City are doing precisely the opposite of this and Olise’s last-gasp penalty continued a pattern that will be terminal to their hopes of a record-breaking fourth successive title, if it hasn’t been already. In their past 10 Premier League games, starting with Gabriel Martinelli’s 86th-minute winner at Emirates Stadium, City have dropped points to goals conceded inside the final 10 minutes five times.

Alexander-Arnold’s 80th-minute goal at the Etihad Stadium to snatch a 1-1 draw for Liverpool was the earliest of these. Indeed, the Arsenal defeat is the only game in question where City have not been leading. They chucked away their third lead of the match at Stamford Bridge when their former academy star Cole Palmer tucked away an injury-time penalty. They led Tottenham twice prior to Dejan Kulusevski securing a 3-3 draw. 

There was the mitigation of those results coming against talent-stacked sides. Palace have their share of fine players, of course, but they have won once in the Premier League since September and arrived in east Manchester ravaged by injuries. What should have been the safest of safe leads turned into a capitulation you could not imagine from Guardiola’s treble-winning vintage of last season. 

Should Kyle Walker be undroppable for Man City?

It’s a curious state of affairs that a player Guardiola unceremoniously benched for the Champions League final win over Inter Milan now seems to be carved into every shifting tactic for 2023/24. Kyle Walker is very arguably the finest right-back of the Premier League era and, after Ilkay Gundogan’s departure to Barcelona, Guardiola was loath to lose another key dressing room lieutenant.

Quite what the terms of the agreement thrashed out by manager and player as Bayern Munich hovered around Walker is now the subject of increased eye-rolling conjecture. Guardiola famously never offers players any guarantees, but it has come to feel like he offered his current captain the world.

As City used Lewis and then John Stones in a hybrid midfielder role during the second half of last season, Walker became marginalised. He returned to the side for bravura showings against the likes of Vinicius Junior when the situation required, but he appeared to be moving into the next and final stage of his City career. The specialist for specific one-vs-one defensive jobs.

Stones’ injuries have undoubtedly played a part, but Walker has played 90 minutes in all 17 of City’s Premier League games so far. This has meant him being thrust into positions in possession where he is not as astute as many of his teammates.

After brilliantly creating an early chance for Alvarez on Saturday there were a cluster of wretched crosses. His passive part in Mateta’s goal suggested the 33-year-old’s heavy workload might also have blunted the prime tools of his trade.

Grealish on the goal trail to give Guardiola midfield option

Grealish found himself in the peculiar position of scoring two in two and having his productivity questioned by former England captain Stuart Pearce this week. Saturday’s clinical finish should quieten that particular line of discourse for a while after the former Aston Villa favourite revelled in the sort of freedom he has rarely been granted at City.

Confronted with Roy Hodgson’s 5-4-1, Guardiola elected to have left-back Josko Gvardiol hold width on the left, with Grealish granted license to roam infield, poking and prodding for any cracks in the dam.

He found one on the end of Foden’s fine pass and Lewis’ goal arrived as he did damage once more in one of those pockets where all Guardiola’s favourite creators have always done their best work, from Xavi and Andres Iniesta to David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne.

Grealish has spoken recently about wanting to be more than just a left winger in this squad packed with Swiss army knife footballers such as Bernardo Silva and the prodigious Lewis.

It takes Guardiola a long time to trust players in the No.8 positions, with Lewis’ selection ahead of summer signings Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes the latest example of this. Grealish now knows his manager’s playbook inside out and should now be trusted to operate in-field more often as City try to shift a lingering malaise.

Man City vs Crystal Palace live updates, highlights, and commentary

Fulltime: Well, well, well. City let late leads slip against Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham over recent weeks. Fairly inexcusable but all games against high-quality opposition and the sort of things that can happen over the course of a season. Palace have won once in the Premier League since the end of September yet, as soon as Mateta gave them sniff, City more or less fell apart. By the time they return from the Club World Cup, City could be nine points behind leaders Liverpool and eight shy of Arsenal. As the season approaches its halfway point, it feels like the title might be slipping away. Thanks very much for joining us.

90th minute+7: It’s Palace attacking! City completely scrambled. The cross is behind Franca.

90th minute+5: GOOOAAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!! Michael Olise (pen)!!!!!!

Cool as you like, sending Ederson the wrong way. City have thrown another lead away. Have they thrown their title away too?

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90th minute+3: PENALTY TO CRYSTAL PALACE!!! Foden is panicked into a challenge on Mateta. This will be checked but it looks pretty nailed on. Olise has trhe ball.

90th minute+2: City give Olise loads of room. What on earth are they playing at. Lewis get a block in. This is frantic.

90th minute: Olise swings in a cross to the far post but it’s over everyone. Final roll of the dice from Hodgson as Eze replaces Clyne. He’ll have four additional minutes to produce some magic.

88th minute: Franca snaffled the ball near the centre circle and wanted to cause some mayhem. But that’s proper big-boy football from City. First by Rodri to disposes the Brazilian and then Foden, who wriggles out of a tight spot to win a free kick.

87th minute: Gvardiola and Lewis get the ball over to Silva on the right. He cuts inside and shoots. Henderson’s save is decent but he should get the ball further away from goal. No matter as there are no City players following in.

80th minute: Attacking subs for Palace and Franca and Ahamada replace Schlupp and Riedewald.

78th minute: As evidenced by their recent run of draws, City are not so sure-footed in these situations at the moment. And Palace have previous on this ground.

76th minute: GOOOAAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!! Jean-Philippe Mateta!!!

Game on! City are undone far too easily by an admittedly fine ball down their right channel by Guehi. Schlupp crossed and Mateta slid in to do the rest.

70th minute: Not saying the jeopardy has drained out of this one, but a load of people in the third tier are shining their phone torches. Grow up.

66th minute: Pace is not Rodri’s strongest suit but he was cool as a field full of cucumbers there in disrobing Olise.

64th minute: Ozoh does his keeper a solid by getting a firm clearing header on Alvarez’s left-wing delivery.

63rd minute: Stunning save from Henderson to deny Silva from 25 yards… but he might have done himself a disservice. The former Manchester United man had only just come back from a thigh injury, remember. He had to change direction sharply and needed some treatment. Now he must deal with a corner.

59th minute: Clumsy foul from Gvardiol on Olise. His next one is going to have to be a booking.

55th minute: There was a mass-groan inducing VAR check on that one because that’s just the world we live in. Nevertheless the goal stands. Guardiola took the opportunity to deliver some furiously urgent instructions to Foden and Alvarez.

54th minute: GOOOAAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!! Rico Lewis!!!! 

Palace! Lads! Come on, that’s not how you make the most of a let off. Grealish gets into one of those pockets where he can subtly pick a team apart. There’s nothing subtle about Rodri’s part in all of that as he bulldozes in the box and takes a couple of Palace defenders with him. That creates enough space for Lewis to dispatch the loose ball and claim a first Premier League goal.

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53rd minute: GOOOAAAA…. VAR OFFSIDE! Alvarez whips a little gem past everyone and into the far corner. Rodri didn’t get a touch but did run across the line of the ball, so is adjudged to be interfering with play. That’s fair enough but Henderson probably wasn’t getting there, so Palace are a little fortunate perhaps.

52nd minute: Olise brings down Grealish and City have a handy free-kick on the left. Probably a crossing position but Alvarez might fancy whipping a shot here… especially with a one-man wall.

48th minute: A nice but of open, green space for Olise but Gvardiol sticks to his task pretty well. The Croatia international then unfussily heads back to Ederson under pressure from the Palace winger.

46th minute: We’re back underway. No changes from the end of the first half which, as the stats below show, was statistically pretty impressive from City.

Halftime: Grealish’s third goal in his past three Premier League appearances is the difference between the sides. Alvarez and Foden have also gone close for City but Guardiola’s men have not created a hateful of chances against a well-stocked Palace defence. The Eagles showed flashes of their threat on the break and are still in this one.

45th minute+4: From the free-kick there’s a joust between Silva and Andersen that concludes with a Palace corner. City clear their lines.

45th minute+3: Gvardiol grabs at Olise to bring him down. Probably a touch fortunate not to join Ederson and Andersen in the book. 

45th minute: Therre will be five minutes of added Grealish and Clyne VAR time. In fairness, that only too about three. But you know what I mean.

44th minute: Olise spots the ball. He LIkes the look of this. Ohhh, not a bad try at all. It ripples the top of the side netting, drawing cheers from the more optimistic members of the Palace support at the other end.

42nd minute: Well, well. In case you were drifting off, Ederson charges out of his area and clatters through Mateta. Free-kick to Palace on the edge of the box and a yellow card for the City goalkeeper. The Palace players wanted red. 

40th minute: Foden takes aim from about 25 yards, inside right. Ohhh, very close. Ripples the side-netting and I’m not sure Henderson was getting there.

39th minute: City upping the tempo, popping the passes and changing the angles. Andersen has seen quite enough of this and charges out of defence to mow down Ake. The referee had the yellow card in his hand almost before the Dutchman landed.

38th minute: City nipping the ball around nicely but there was a wrong decision in there because Guardiola has just howled into the creeping dusk. Nah. no idea.

36th minute: Silva sends a deep cross over the Palace box. Gvardiola brings it down and absolutely creams a shot with his weaker right foot. It’s deflected into the side netting. Henderson’s punch from the corner isn’t entirely effective. Neither is Walker’s fizzed shot into a forest of legs.

34th minute: Injury enforced change for Palace. Captain Ward, a veteran of many a fine rearguard on this ground makes way for Ozoh.

28th minute: Alvarez through on the end of a bouncing ball but his shot is too close to Henderson. That could have been curtains for Palace.

27th minute: THE GOAL STANDS, CITY LEAD 1-0. For fans of Grealish’s mighty calves, it looked like one of his most famous attributes might have strayed offside. As it is, Nathaniel Clyne just played him on. One of those we’d have called about level and cracked on in the pre-VAR days, but you do have to draw the line somewhere if you’re drawing one.

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24th minute: GOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!! Jack Grealish!!!!! (OR IS IT???)

Three in three for the England international. Foden gets a lovely pass around the corner and Grealish sweeps home. Ohhh, ths is close though. VAR will check for offside…

22nd minute: Olise tries to get the jump on Ake but his touch takes the ball out of play. There is so much wide open space behind the City defence if Palace can just get to it.

21st minute: Having spent an interminable amount of time in their own third, Palace break. Schlupp’s shot is blocked. Back come City. As you were.

16th minute: Oh, how’s that not gone in?! Silva picks out the under-lapping Lewis. His cutback finds Rodri, whose first-time shot hits Guehi’s boot and spins across goal and wide with Henderson rooted to the spot.

11th minute: Lewis slips a pass to the onrushing Rodri. City’s Champions League final hero can’t get the ball on his right foot, has absolutely no intention of shooting with his left and prods wide right-footed.

9th minute: Since that earlier good Walker cross, his output has taken a swift downturn. A rubbish, scuffed effort is cleared as far as Dias who lets fly from 30 yards, curling a shot just beyond the top left corner. That wasn’t half bad.

8th minute: Nice move through the lines from City but that’s worryingly passive from Palace at this stage. Walker’s cross is blocked.

6th minute: The first corner is cleared behind. The next goes deep to Ake at the far post. Definitely one from the training ground but City can’t capitalise on his knock back across goal. Schlupp and Ward are having a prolonged chat with referee Paul Tierney. It’s not entirely clear why.

5th minute: Henderson into the action with a fine save! Walker’s attacking output for City has come under scrutiny over recent weeks, but here’s a lovely cross from the inside-right position. Alvarez connects with a stooping, glancing header that the Palace goalkeeper turns behind.

3rd minute: We’re already into the anticipated game of attack vs. defence. Guardiola’s initial gambit to unlock Palace features Silva out wide on the right but left-back Gvardiol holding the width down the left, meaning license to roam for Grealish.

1st minute: We’re off. Palace get us going and launch it out for a City throw. Silva starting wide on the right for the hosts with Foden through the middle behind Alvarez.

20 mins prior to kickoff: The teams are heading back inside at the end of their warmups. Jack Grealish has scored in two in his past two Premier League appearancesand just clattered a couple into the top corner during City’s shooting drills. Is the hot streak about to continue?

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40 mins prior to kickoff: Teenaged England international Lewis is making his fourth start of the Premier League season for City and, on paper at least, this one seems to have come in more agreeable circumstances. While he has won plenty of admiration for his Champions League displays, Lewis found himself thrown into firefights at Arsenal and Aston Villa as a City midfield without Rodri failed to assert their customary control and lost both games.

Here, in a game when you’d expect the hosts to have an absurdly high share of possession, Lewis in tandem with Rodri will be charged with moving Palace around and trying to poke and prod some openings for the City forward line.

Rico Lewis

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55 mins prior to kickoff: Micahel Olise is back in the Palace starting XI having been benched for the defeat to Liverpool, while Dean Henderson is fit to start in goal and make his Premier League debut for the Eagles. It looks like he’ll be operating behind a back five as Tyrick Mitchell returns. Eberechi Eze is back among the substitutes after his lay-off.

1 hour prior to kickoff: The teams are in. Rico Lewis starts in midfield for Manchester City, who are still without Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku.

1 hr 20 mins prior to kickoff: Of course, it seems highly unlikely Haaland will be with us today as he nurses a foot injury. We’ll find out for certain in about 20 minutes when the team news drops. Like seemingly every team in the Premier League, Palace are also nursing a number of key absentees – not idea when you have one win since the end of September.

1 hr 40 mins prior to kickoff: On the face of it, this might feel like one of those games that Manchester City win as they begin to churn out one of their long, grinding, title-race-breaking winning runs. Their fixtures immediately after the Club World Cup add to this impression, although Crystal Palace have often been pesky opponents for Pep Guardiola.

Under Roy Hodgson, Palace won at the Etihad Stadium in 2018/19 and equalised late on to snatch a 2-2 draw during the following season. In 2021/22, Patrick Vieira’s Eagles won 2-0 in east Manchester and City needed an Erling Haaland hat-trick to claim a 4-2 win from 2-0 down in this fixture last season. In short, it’s not often a straightforward fixture for the champions.

2 hours prior to kickoff: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News’ live coverage of Manchester City vs Crystal Palace. The reigning champions will aim to make up ground on Aston Villa, Arsenal and leaders Liverpool, with the three sides above them in the table all in action on Sunday. This will be City’s final domestic game before heading to Saudi Arabia for the FIFA Club World Cup next week.

Man City vs Crystal Palace lineups

Erling Haaland missed out once again with a foot injury, meaning Julian Alvarez starts at the centre of the attack.

Rico Lewis slots into midfield ahead of Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes. Winger Jeremy Doku (thigh) remains sidelined.

Man City lineup (4-3-3, right to left): Ederson (GK) — Walker, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol — Lewis, Rodri, Silva — Foden,  Alvarez, Grealish.

As well as his side’s poor form, Hodgson is also dealing with an increasing injury list at Palace, with Sam Johnstone and Odsonne Edouard joining the absentees. The former’s absence means an Eagles Premier League debut for fellow England goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who returns from a thigh injury of his own.

Striker Jordan Ayew also misses out due to a one-game ban after being sent off in last weekend’s loss to Liverpool, although Michael Olise is back in the starting lineup and Eberechi Eze returns to the bench.

Crystal Palace lineup (5-4-1, right to left): Henderson (GK) — Clyne, Ward, Anderson, Guehi, Mitchell— Olise, Riedewald, Richards, Schlupp — Mateta.

Man City vs Crystal Palace live stream, TV channel

The Manchester City vs. Crystal Palace match from the Premier League kicks off at 3:00 p.m. local time from the Etihad Stadium in Manchester.

Below are the corresponding times, TV channels, and live streams to watch the match in some of the major regions around the world

IN CANADA: Watch this match in 4k on Fubo Canada (on 4k devices)

  Date Kickoff time TV Streaming
USA Sat, Dec. 16 10:00 a.m. ET — Fubo, Universo NOW, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo
Canada Sat, Dec. 16 10:00 a.m. ET — Fubo Canada
UK Sat, Dec. 16  3:00 p.m. GMT — —
Australia Sun, Dec. 17  2:00 a.m. AEDT — Optus Sport
India Sat, Dec. 16 8:30 p.m. IST — Hotstar VIP,
JioTV

USA: This game is being broadcast on the NBC USA Network. Spanish language streaming options are on Universo and Telemundo which are available via Fubo.

Canada: Every Premier League game this season is live streaming exclusively via Fubo in Canada.

Australia: Fans in Australia can stream every match live and on demand on Optus Sport.

UK: This match is not available for live broadcast due to the Saturday 3pm embargo. BBC Radio 5Live will provide live radio commentary.

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