Erling Haaland scored a late penalty to help Manchester City produce one of the narrow football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. Throughout the whole of the Selhurst Park contest, City was wasteful, and Haaland could have walked away with the match ball. On the half-hour mark, the Norwegian striker had a fantastic chance to open the scoring but missed the target from six yards out with the goal gaping. But, just as Guardiola was about to send on Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan was brought down in the box by a sloppy Michael Olise challenge, allowing Haaland to score the penalty.
City’s victory puts pressure on Arsenal, who are now just two points ahead of the reigning champions ahead of their Super Sunday London derby at Fulham, which will be shown live on Sky Sports at 2 p.m. However, Palace failed to challenge Ederson in the 90 minutes, becoming the first Premier League side since Opta began collecting data in 2003 to go three games without registering a shot on target.
It only took City three minutes to begin assaulting the Palace goal, with goalkeeper Vicente Guaita pushed into a brilliant first-half save. For the first time in six weeks, John Stones nodded a cross back to Rodri, whose ferocious effort from inside the box was expertly parried by the Palace goalie. Jack Grealish then beat four Palace defenders down the left before missing Guaita’s near post with a low effort moments later. Wilfried Zaha air-kicking Olise’s cross at the near post capped off a hectic first five minutes for Guardiola’s side.
After that, Haaland had a shot from the outskirts of the area blocked by Marc Guehi, but his next chance around the half-hour mark was considerably more gilt-edged. Grealish found Nathan Ake on the underlap, and his cross found the City striker just six yards out. Haaland went beneath the ball, which sailed over Guaita’s bar mysteriously.
During halftime, City came out with similar ambitions and had a glorious chance to score when Grealish was fouled on the edge of the box, despite feeble demands for a penalty. Foden’s only option was to slap the set piece straight at Guaita, who palmed the effort away. That was England’s final deed of the game, as he was substituted for Julian Alvarez, who had a good opportunity to score right away. After Bernardo’s feed, the Argentine attacker turned his man in the box but blasted over when he had more time to pick his place.
Minutes later, Alvarez hit from a distance at a short corner, but Guaita was there again, this time with stinging palms. Palace’s resistance would last only 10 minutes longer, as Olise’s feet couldn’t stop racing down Gundogan at a short corner and caught him high on the midfielder’s ankle. The Palace forward had no objections as referee Robert Jones pointed to the spot. Haaland stepped up to roll the resultant past kick past Guaita, who was no longer able to stop City’s onslaught. The Norwegian striker had a chance to make it two, but he headed Grealish’s cross during a counter-attack over the crossbar. City won comfortably for the fourth time in five games.
“One of the benefits of knowing him well is that he can miss one opportunity and not become upset or sad. And he’s upbeat about the next one,” Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola said. “He knows he’ll have the opportunity, and he’ll be there. It is an excellent quality in a football player and athlete. You cannot be a good player in football, basketball, or tennis if you are thinking about an activity that has just passed or finished. He’s got another one, another one. Of course, he feels the strain. It’s lovely. You must feel it. You’ll be in the bar drinking something if you don’t feel the pressure. You must adapt and deal with it.”
“I wasn’t expecting a 4-0 or 5-0 [this time], but we were always trying to attack. They defended really well given their physicality. I had a sense [Jordan] Ayew, Eze, and Zaha would come on in the second half,” he added. “They have highly good players who can pass the ball to one another. Finally, we spotted the penalty, thanks to Erling’s determination.”
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