Manchester City entertained Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium earlier this afternoon as they looked to pick up a positive result at home. The Mancunian giants made a sloppy start to the game and conceded the opening goal in the sixth minute when Wilfried Zaha found the back of the net with a scrappy finish. Aymeric Laporte was sent off in the first half injury-time for dragging Zaha down when he was clear through on goal which meant that Pep Guardiola’s men were at a numerical disadvantage heading into the half-time break.
The ten men of Man City kept themselves in the game in the second half but ended up shipping in their second goal in the 88th minute when Conor Gallagher scored with an excellent finish. The contest finished with the reigning Premier League champions suffering a disappointing 2-0 loss at home.
Let’s take a look at how each Man City player fared during the match against the Eagles.
GK: Ederson – 6/10
The Brazilian keeper made just one save in the game but will be disappointed for not doing better to stop Zaha’s early goal. It was a tough day at the office for him.
RB: Kyle Walker – 6/10
Walker won the ball back once but struggled to make an impact in the Eagles half.
CB: Ruben Dias – 6.5/10
The Portuguese defender didn’t give up in the face of adversity and made plenty of solid tackles to disrupt the opposition’s flow in the game.
CB: Aymeric Laporte – 4/10
Laporte let his teammates down by getting sent off in the first half injury-time after a poor error of judgment.
The 4th Official uses images provided by the following image agency:
Getty Images (https://www.gettyimages.de/)
Imago Images (https://www.imago-images.de/)
LB: Joao Cancelo – 6/10
He made some important interceptions at the back and had plenty of strikes at goal.
CM: Bernardo Silva – 6/10
Silva worked hard but struggled to get a foothold in the game. It was an uninspiring performance from him today.
CM: Rodri – 7/10
The Spaniard made a few solid tackles and even managed to orchestrate a couple of decent chances in the final third.
CM: Kevin De Bruyne – 6/10
The Belgian talent made some encouraging runs with the ball but never looked like he would score.
RW: Gabriel Jesus – 7/10
Jesus caused a lot of problems for the opposition with his clever movement and had a goal chalked off by VAR in the second half.
ST: Phil Foden – 5.5/10
The English starlet was mostly ineffective in the final third as he didn’t get a sniff at goal.
LW: Jack Grealish – 6.5/10
He created multiple chances for his teammates to score but never looked like he had a goal in him.
Substitutes:
CB: John Stones – 6.5/10
Stones added some bite and steel to Man City’s backline in the second half.
LW: Raheem Sterling – 6/10
He offered very little after coming on in the 77th minute.
RW: Riyad Mahrez – 6/10
His impact on the game was minimal as well.
