Manchester City 0-2 Crystal Palace: 5 talking points as 10-man Citizens get humbled by spirited Eagles | Premier League 2021-22
Ten-man Manchester City succumbed to their first home defeat of the Premier League season after going 2-0 to Crystal Palace at the Etihad on Saturday. Goals from Wilfried Zaha and Conor Gallagher helped secure all three points for The Eagles, with Aymeric Laporte getting sent off for the Sky Blues in the first half.
Gallagher caught Laporte out in possession before laying the ball off for Zaha to slot home the opener. In the dying minutes of the opening stanza, the Spaniard was shown a straight red for catching Zaha.
City needed a big performance after the break. But that never arrived, as they struggled to break down a resolute Palace side who firmly held their shape. Both sides saw a goal ruled out for offside following VAR reviews, before Gallagher sealed the contest for Palace from a neat counter-attack in the 88th minute.
In the process, Pep Guardiola's side lost at home for the first time since a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in May. On that note, here are the five major talking points from the game:
#5 Manchester City lose it completely
Was this City's worst game of the season? Possibly. Not just because it was their heaviest defeat yet, but also because they put up a lacklustre performance that screamed for creativity.
The home side had more of the ball, obviously, but simply ran out of ideas about what to do with it. Instead, they just resorted to pointless kneading of the ball around the pitch in the hope of finding an opener.
Man City lose their first home game this season 🤦♂️ https://t.co/0ehUPmLSY6
Palace, content with letting City have the ball, set up perfectly to hit them on the break. When City looked to commit more bodies forward towards the end, the ploy yielded dividends for Palace.
#4 Laporte was an unmitigated disaster
It's unfair to blame only Aymeric Laporte for City's loss when the rest of the bunch didn't cover themselves in much glory either. But the Spaniard sure triggered their downfall with two huge mistakes.
Firstly, he was caught out of possession by Gallagher for Palace's first goal. The 21-year-old nicked the ball off Laporte before laying it off for Zaha to finish into the back of the net.
The centre-back carried the ball too far forward and paid a price for it, almost gifting Palace the lead, but worse still was yet to come.
2019 - Aymeric Laporte’s sending off was Manchester City’s first home red card in the Premier League since October 2019 (Fernandinho vs Aston Villa) and their first on home soil in the first half in the league since August 2017 (Kyle Walker vs Everton). Dismissed. https://t.co/oRoysBnnsC
In an attempt to thwart Zaha from latching onto a cross, Laporte pulled the Palace striker down, denying him a clear goal-scoring opportunity. That left the referee with no choice but to send Laporte off.
City, even before the half-time whistle, were a goal down and a man down as well.