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77 min:<\/strong> Semenyo, operating as a centre-forward, plays a nice one-two with Savinho but can\u2019t find Doku on the edge of Palace\u2019s box. Wharton makes a beat interception.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 74 min:<\/strong> That is Johnson\u2019s last involvement and it\u2019s been another poor evening for the former Nottingham Forest winger, who is still yet to score for Palace since his move from Tottenham. Kamada comes on.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 72 min:<\/strong> Guardiola looks very upset on the touchline. I think he can sense that the game is drifting somewhat. City have ceded control of the second half and Palace are edging their way back into it. Johnson wins a corner for the visitors but then floats a dreadful set-piece straight into the hands of Donnarumma. No pace on the delivery.<\/p>\n Angry Pep. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff\/Action Images\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.35 EDT<\/p>\n 70 min:<\/strong> Sarr is working really hard up and down this right wing for Palace. He is getting forward well but also tracking back to double up on Doku, when City have the ball.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 68 min:<\/strong> Wharton has already made a difference for Palace since coming on and the midfielder sends a delicious trivela through ball over the top for Johnson. The Palace winger, though, makes a pig\u2019s ear of things, miscontrolling the ball and then punting a cross straight over Donnarumma\u2019s crossbar. Eeeeesh.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 65 min:<\/strong> \u201cI agree that neither of the kits on display are classics,\u201d emails Tim Smith. \u201cIf you want to see a beauty, check out the Scottish Premier livestream. Motherwell FC is celebrating its 140th anniversary in a green kit (to my eyes, petrol blue in official verbiage). Clean, simple, and no shirt sponsor makes it a knockout.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnny Koutroumbis of Motherwell (right) battles with and Alistair Johnston of Celtic. Photograph: Zak Mauger\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n 63 min:<\/strong> Bernardo Silva uncharacteristically gives the ball away to Sarr! The Palace substitute bears down on goal, but drags a weak shot straight at Donnarumma!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 62 min:<\/strong> Bernado Silva is playing centre-back now. I\u2019m completely lost now.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 60 min:<\/strong> Palace respond with three changes of their own. Jorgen Strand Larsen on for Jean-Philippe Mateta, Adam Wharton replaces Will Hughes in midfield and Isma\u00efla Sarr on for Pino, who has had a poor night.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 58 min:<\/strong> City make a couple of early changes. Gvardiol off for Doku, Ak\u00e9 on for Nunes.<\/p>\n I think that means Khusanov will shirt to right back and Ak\u00e9 will come into central defence. Doku to his regular position on the left flank, and it looks like A\u00eft-Nouri is going to drop into that hybrid role that Gvardiola was playing.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 56 min:<\/strong> Bernardo Silva is bossing things, as per. Just the last player you want to chase around when City are sitting pretty on a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 54 min:<\/strong> Signs of life from Palace, who are finally enjoying a bit of possession. Hughes wiggles free on the edge of City\u2019s box, feeds Lerma, but the Colombian takes a heavy touch when a better one would have set up a shooting opportunity.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 52 min:<\/strong> Savinho skins Canvot with a lovely bit of skill before Mitchell comes crashing late into City\u2019s Brazilian. Yellow card for Palace\u2019s left wing-back.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 49 min:<\/strong> It\u2019s true that Palace should be wary of sleepwalking their way through the rest of the Premier League<\/a> season. They can\u2019t seriously expect to turn it on in the Conference League final if they spend the next two-and-a-half matches getting battered. Not only will Palace need to retain some sort of form, many of their players will also be sweating over their World Cup places.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 47 min:<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019m having a hard time figuring out which is the case: Is the City attack brilliant?\u201d asks K\u00e1ri Tulinius. \u201cIf so, why has Pep persisted with a worse front three all season. Or is the Palace defence just awful? Then maybe the Oberb\u00fcrgmeister of Freiburg should start drawing up the parade route.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Peeeeeeep!<\/p>\n We are underway again at the sodden Etihad Stadium.<\/p>\n Rayan Ait-Nouri and Chris Richards battle for possession as we get back under way at the Etihad. Photograph: Stu Forster\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.09 EDT<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in Scotland \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n This is the live Premier League<\/a> table<\/strong>. City will be two points shy of Arsenal with an identical goal difference if it finishes 2-0 here.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Half-time reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n Share<\/a>Half-time: Manchester City 2-0 Crystal Palace<\/p>\n This is the first time that Foden has provided two assists in the same Premier League<\/a> game since December 2023.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min:<\/strong> One minute added on. It\u2019s worth flagging that with those two goals, City are now level on goal difference with Arsenal.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Amazing save from Henderson to deny Gvardiol!<\/p>\n 44 min:<\/strong> City so nearly add a third. Once again, it is Foden at the heart of things, crossing for Gvardiol. The Croatian rises at the far post, nods back across goal powerfully. It looks a certain goal before Henderson springs to this right and somehow palms it wide! Remarkable save! Gvardiol was wheeling away.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 42 min:<\/strong> Foden is purring, there is a real spring in his step now. Amazing what a bit of confidence can do.<\/p>\n \u201cWrong way on the prayer wheel, Charles, the other way, the other way,\u201d quips Justin Kavanagh, \u201cand don\u2019t set the house on fire with those candles.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.48 EDT<\/p>\n GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Crystal Palace (Marmoush 40)<\/p>\n Another Foden assist! A\u00eft-Nouri lofts a ball over the top to Foden, who checks his mirrors and hooks a first-time pass square to Marmoush. The Egyptian lets the ball run across his body before swivelling and finishing past Henderson and the retreating Palace bodies on the line!<\/p>\n Omar Marmoush scores a smart second for City. The home side are well on top. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff\/Action Images\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.45 EDT<\/p>\n 37 min:<\/strong> As kits go, neither the home City shirt (with the sash) nor this gold away number from Palace is one for the ages.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 35 min:<\/strong> \u201cWell that\u2019s jinxed it \u2013 thanks Michael,\u201d writes Charles Antaki of my comments on a lack of City invention before their goal. \u201cArsenal fans have it tough enough. I\u2019m going to have to add another dozen candles to the altar and give the prayer wheel an extra energetic spin if the fates are to be rebalanced.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 33 min:<\/strong> You have to say that was a sublime assist from Foden. He has been woefully short of his best in recent months but the way he saw that opening and executed it with that neat back-heel was brilliant. That will not have been lost on Thomas Tuchel.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Crystal Palace (Semenyo 31)<\/p>\n City finally show some invention as Foden impudent backheel unlocks Palace\u2019s defence. Semenyo is onto the through ball in a flash and finishes beautifully to find the far corner. Semenyo took it early, which completely wrong-footed Henderson in the Palace goal. A lovely goal! That\u2019s what happens when you take risks in the final third.<\/p>\n Antoine Semenyo fires City in front. Photograph: Peter Powell\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.37 EDT<\/p>\n 28 min:<\/strong> He\u2019s no Mahrez on that right wing for City, but Savinho is still one of the best dribblers in the Premier League<\/a>. Take on Mitchell, man! What\u2019s the worst that could happen?!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 26 min:<\/strong> City move the ball into wide areas, then recycle it back centrally, them switch the play to the other flank and repeat. Eeeeeesh, this is turgid stuff.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 23 min:<\/strong> Mikel Arteta and anyone associated with Arsenal will be watching this (or reading this?) with encouragement. City have been very poor, despite having 80% possession.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 21 min:<\/strong> It\u2019s bucketing it down in Manchester. Bernardo Silva will miss this.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 19 min:<\/strong> Just as I write that, City create their first real chance! It\u2019s a clumsy City move, but ultimately an effective one as A\u00eft-Nouri plays a one-two with Foden and bundles his way past Mu\u00f1oz before dragging a shot wide of the near post with his weaker right foot.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 17 min:<\/strong> Lots of possession and probing from City. Not a lot of incision. This very much looks like a rusty attacking unit missing the invention of Doku and Cherki.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 15 min:<\/strong> Gu\u00e9hi is yet to taste defeat in a City shirt, in the Premier League<\/a>. I wonder how the former Palace captain is feeling tonight, against his old teammates.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 13 min:<\/strong> And from the corner, Richards rises at the near post and nods over! The Palace defender should probably have scored, jumping over Gu\u00e9hi.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 12 min:<\/strong> Another foray from Palace down the left! City don\u2019t look comfortably defensively in this new formation and Johnson streams down the left wing unopposed. He crosses for Pino, alone on the penalty spot, and the Spaniard shoots towards the bottom corner \u2026 but Gvardiol gets back to make a crucial block! The ball squirts behind for a corner.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 10 min:<\/strong> A word for Jaydee Canvot, who has slotted into the Palace defence to replace the outgoing Marc Gu\u00e9hi, to Manchester City<\/a> of course. The French teenager has been sensational and the only Palace player to start the last 17 matches for the club.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 8 min:<\/strong> A couple of City corners, but Palace head the ball away to safety.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 6 min:<\/strong> Palace are defending deep but have twice sprung forward quickly on the counter attack, latterly with Mitchell down the left. The Palace academy product couldn\u2019t find the right pass, though, and was eventually run out of play.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 4 min:<\/strong> I had City down pre-match as a 4-3-3 but I think they might be playing wing backs tonight, with A\u00eft-Nouri and Mateus Nunes on either flank? It\u2019s not actually very clear. Gvardiol looks as though he is playing in midfield when City are in possession and slots in as a centre-back when Palace have the ball. My head hurts.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Crystal Palace goal disallowed?!<\/p>\n 2 min:<\/strong> It\u2019s not clear if the ball crossed the line as Mateta connects with a Johnson cross, but the former Nottingham Forest winger is eventually called back for offside, only after Donnarumma claws the ball out from his goalmouth. Replays show that Johnson was just off, so correct decision. A good start from Palace!<\/p>\n Not quite for Jean-Philippe Mateta. Photograph: Stu Forster\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.11 EDT<\/p>\n Peeeeeeep!<\/p>\n The teams are out! City in their sky blue, Palace in their away gold strip. We are ready to go!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cFantasy managers everywhere<\/strong> who waited patiently for this week to play their triple captain card on Haaland are cursing Pep right now,\u201d sighs Robert Jenkins.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A big night, then, for Phil Foden<\/strong>. The 2024 PFA Players\u2019 Player of the Year has been very underwhelming this season and has fallen out of Guardiola\u2019s favoured XI in recent months. At the moment, Foden looks unlikely to make England\u2019s World Cup squad. In terms of No 10s, Morgan Rogers, Jude Bellingham, Eberechi Eze, Cole Palmer (if fit) and Morgan Gibbs-White are ahead of Foden at present, I would suggest. Time for the 25-year-old to step up.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.58 EDT<\/p>\n \u201cWow! Pep leaving his three best attackers on the bench!\u201d<\/strong> writes Justin Kavanagh. \u201cHe\u2019s definitely choosing tails in that title coin-flip tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n Photograph: Martin Rickett\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.07 EDT<\/p>\n Pep Guardiola explains his team selection<\/strong> to Sky Sports:<\/p>\n double quotation markThere is a risk in making changes but the manager is here to take the risk. We have to take it. People may not believe me but I trust my players. In three days we have to travel to London, it\u2019s always a long trip, while Chelsea do not have to travel. Then we immediately have to travel to Bournemouth [for next Tuesday\u2019s game], one of the top-form teams, so everyone has to play these three games. The Premier League is so complicated. If those games were five or six days later, maybe the situation would have been different.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNever mind <\/strong>who<\/strong> plays for Palace<\/strong> tonight it\u2019s more about how; they were embarrassing at Bournemouth last week, the amount of tanking going on there was more to suited to Bovington a few miles up the road,\u201d emails Dave Estherby.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Let\u2019s unpack those teams.<\/strong><\/p>\n Remarkably, it looks like Pep Guardiola is resting some of his key players for this Saturday\u2019s FA Cup final. That is something of a shock, given the ongoing title race. There are six changes from the side that beat Brentford 3-0 on Saturday.<\/p>\n Josko Gvardiol makes a welcome return to the starting XI after a five-month absence. Phil Foden hasn\u2019t started a league game since 4 March, but he comes in as well. This is Savinho\u2019s first league start since New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n Palace make four changes but a couple of omissions aside, this is close to their strongest XI. Jean-Philippe Mateta makes his 199th appearance for Palace, Pino comes in for Sarr, while Lerma and Hughes replace Wharton and Kamada. It\u2019s probably those latter two changes that weaken the visitors the most.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Team news! Haaland, Doku and Cherki on the City bench!<\/p>\n Manchester City (4-3-3):<\/strong> Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Gu\u00e9hi, Gvardiol; Ait-Nouri, Bernardo (c), Foden; Semenyo, Savinho, Marmoush Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1):<\/strong> Henderson (c); Richards, Lacroix, Canvot; Munoz, Lerma, Hughes, Mitchell; Johnson, Pino; Mateta. Share<\/a><\/p>\n City\u2019s women<\/strong>, of course, have already been already champions of England this season. And now they have a purpose-built \u00a310m training facility to boot.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The state of play at the top of the Premier League<\/a> table<\/strong>, as if you need reminding. This feels like last-chance saloon for City, win or bust.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Here\u2019s what Pep Guardiola<\/strong> had to say before tonight\u2019s match.<\/p>\n double quotation markWe lost the two finals of the FA Cup because the referees didn\u2019t do their jobs they should do, even the VAR. When this happens it is because we have to do better, not the referees or VAR.<\/p>\n I never trust anything since I arrived [at City] a long time ago. Always I learned you have do it better \u2013 be in a position to do it better because [if not] you blame yourself with what you have to do, because [VAR] is a flip of a coin. You have to do better and better for yourself, and that is focusing on Crystal Palace for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the only crucial match<\/strong> to help decide a British title race tonight. It\u2019s an absolutely gargantuan evening in Scotland: if Hearts beat Falkirk and Celtic lose to Motherwell, the Edinburgh side will be crowned champions for the first time since 1960.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n Manchester City should win this. Should. By the time that Arsenal play Burnley on Monday, Manchester City<\/a> should be just two points behind the Gunners with two games to play. Should.<\/p>\n Of course, things are rarely as simple as should. It wasn\u2019t too long ago that Palace were Manchester City\u2019s bogey team<\/a> \u2013 literally any excuse to wheel out the Andros Townsend volley from 2019<\/a>, a Puskas Award nominee \u2013 and Guardiola will remember last year\u2019s FA Cup final<\/a> all too well.<\/p>\n The smart money says that Palace\u2019s heroics won\u2019t be repeated here. Palace have nothing to play for in the Premier League, other than keeping form and fitness for the Conference League final later this month. That European final comes just three days after their final match of the season, against Arsenal no less, and there is plenty of scrutiny on Oliver Glasner\u2019s team selection both in that game and this evening against City. Will Palace\u2019s manager rest his best? Will those that play perform with the same drive and verve as is normally expected? Glasner has hinted at squad rotation: \u201cI\u2019m responsible for Crystal Palace<\/a> and I get paid for doing the best things for Crystal Palace and not for City and not for Arsenal.\u201d<\/p>\n Motivation for City, of course, is not a problem. They have everything to play for domestically, both in the Premier League and this Saturday\u2019s FA Cup final against Chelsea, and (that fateful 3-3 draw at Everton<\/a> aside) are on a relentless run of form. Everything points to a City win and that\u2019s exactly why we are here, in case it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n\n
Subs:<\/strong> Trafford, Dias, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Kovacic, Haaland, Cherki, Doku.<\/p>\n
Subs: <\/strong>Benitez, Sarr, Clyne, Kamada, Wharton, Strand Larsen, Riad, Devenny, Cardines.<\/p>\n\n