Got your breath back yet?
After going two goals down within 21 minutes — and having the Premier League’s first semi-automated offside decision to thank for it not being 3-0 — Manchester City scored twice in three minutes to go in level at half-time and ended up beating Crystal Palace 5-2.
A victory with goals from five different players — Kevin De Bruyne, Omar Marmoush, Mateo Kovacic, James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly — and another assist from goalkeeper Ederson puts City into fourth place in the Premier League. Chelsea (at home against Ipswich Town) and Newcastle United (who host Manchester United) are playing on Sunday — and remember, the top five are set to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Sam Lee dissects the key talking points from a wildly entertaining game at the Eithad…
A vintage performance from De Bruyne?
This was it. This was the rolling back of the years that City fans have been waiting for — and it came on De Bruyne’s first Etihad appearance since his end-of-season departure was announced. The Belgian has struggled since his hernia injury in the first part of the season, either playing poorly in big games or being left out of them altogether.
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Pep Guardiola has turned to him in three of the last four matches, including crucial games away at Bournemouth and Manchester United, and while the effort has always been there, the quality has not. He has come off the bench at times in the past few weeks with City in need of a goal but has been unable to produce his old magic. But this comeback was inspired almost exclusively by him.
There were some more errant efforts early on as City toiled, but De Bruyne’s free kick to pull a goal back was perfectly placed, and that created some energy inside the Etihad Stadium for the first time.
(Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
De Bruyne changed the mood — not just with that goal but his efforts immediately after — and it was his presence of mind that led to the equaliser when he headed the ball back across goal, knowing that he could not stretch enough to put it in himself. Omar Marmoush was the beneficiary after Ilkay Gundogan did not connect properly.
De Bruyne did the same again for the third: he could not score, so he made sure somebody could try, swivelling and laying the ball on a plate for Mateo Kovacic. Then he slid a trademark low cross in for Marmoush, only for Dean Henderson to save the Egyptian’s shot.
By that point, City were rampant — and nobody did more to change the pattern of the match than De Bruyne, who was given a standing ovation when he was substituted late on.
A first half that showed the best and worst of City?
The first 45 minutes were a tale of two halves, when the two sides of this City team were on full display.
Up until De Bruyne’s free kick, Palace looked entirely comfortable, not just sitting back and hitting on the break but having a fair bit of the ball.
The visitors had a lot of joy down their right, with the first goal coming from City left-back Nico O’Reilly going out to close down Palace right wing-back Daniel Munoz, only for Munoz to pass the ball in behind him for Ismaila Sarr to run on to and cross for Eberechi Eze.
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Sarr put another chance from a similar scenario over the bar, and Eze had a third ruled out for a tight offside after O’Reilly lost the ball high up the pitch. The fact that the second Palace goal came from a cheaply conceded corner under minimal resistance only added to the feeling that City were sinking.
#MCICRY – 28’
The referee’s call of no goal was checked and confirmed by the VAR – with Eze in an offside position. pic.twitter.com/uCxUyVJbNi
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) April 12, 2025
But that is where the other side of this team comes in: for all their faults, they can still scare teams off as soon as they show signs of life.
In January, they did it to Chelsea and Club Brugge, and a fortnight ago, they did it to Bournemouth. Here, they swamped Palace following De Bruyne’s free kick, and they kept it up well into the second half.
No Haaland, no worries?
Before this game, City’s top league scorers behind Haaland were Phil Foden with seven (he scored six of them in a four-game spell in January), Marmoush with five (he scored three of them against Newcastle), Josko Gvardiol with five and then Mateo Kovacic with four.
So it is fair to say that every other City player needs to step up and get some goals in Haaland’s absence with an ankle injury. Jack Grealish got his first of the season against Leicester 10 days ago, while Marmoush, the greatest hope of goals, added to his tally. Saturday’s starting line-up did not go down well with many City fans and it did not appear that there were too many goals in it (among its supposed faults), but this was an old-fashioned case of everybody getting in on the act, with O’Reilly adding the fifth.
McAtee, on his first league start, got the fourth (in truth, he should have scored earlier), while Kovacic added another of his well-placed goals from the edge of the box.
Kovacic makes it 3-2 (Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images)
Marmoush added his sixth league goal since he arrived in January and is making a strong case for becoming the talisman City need to secure themselves a Champions League finish.
It is unlikely to be smooth sailing after this, but it was the kind of performance in front of goal that City needed.
What next for City?
Saturday, April 19: Everton (away), Premier League, 3pm UK, 10am ET
(Header photo: De Bruyne celebrates his goal; Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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