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Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 3-0 in the Premier League with a performance that showed their improvement
Manchester City rounded off one of their best weeks of the year with victory at Selhurst Park to stay two points off the top of the Premier League. Whatever doubts there were about their away form after defeats at Brighton, Villa and Newcastle have been silenced after wins at Real Madrid and Crystal Palace.
Growth is the word that Pep Guardiola keeps returning to this season, as in the team that shows the most of it will win the Premier League. A year on from their last trip to South London, the improvement was clear from a team who look as equipped for a title race now as they absolutely did not last December.
The goals may not have been as pretty, even if there was an elegance to Erling Haaland thumping a header past Dean Henderson from a Matheus Nunes cross after patient build-up as well as a lovely rhythm to the second. It was everything that City did around the goals though that made this such an impressive performance.
Having beaten surprise Premier League package Sunderland 3-0 last week and then triumphed against Real in midweek, City legs were weary but their mentality was impressive. The discipline was there to regularly play Palace offside, to cover for teammates when they were unusually sloppy in possession, and to be clinical in front of goal.
As first team coach Kolo Toure said on Friday standing in for Guardiola in his press conference: "The team still plays the football that they used to play but one thing they had more is aggression, the fighting for the second balls for example. We know that in the Premier League it is very physical and having the ball is top, but when you don't have it you have to fight. That's the difference from last season."
City knew that Arsenal had lost to Villa before they played Sunderland last week to close the gap, only this weekend they had seen Arsenal score a late winner to avoid an upset against Wolves. Away to the fourth-best side in the league, they could have settled or crumbled and saved themselves for future battles.
Instead, they picked the perfect times to pounce. Haaland's header in the first period came towards the end of a half that Palace had enjoyed the better of, and in the second 45 minutes Phil Foden struck from outside the box with 20 minutes to go as the hosts threatened an equaliser.
The qualities that Toure spoke of were seen in the second goal from Rayan Cherki, a summer arrival from Lyon for a fraction of the price that Florian Wirtz ended up costing Liverpool. He got his second half off to a bad start when he appealed for a foul on the touchline that wasn't given and then threw his arms up in front of the home supporters.
They were ready to jeer every touch from that moment, but he made it impossible to be mocked by simply getting up and playing passes that were too good to be stopped. One had already nearly put Tijjani Reijnders through on goal before he then took a pass from Haaland and nursed the ball before setting Foden free.
If Cherki's response for the Palace fans showed a new strength for City, players from the FA Cup final also did. Savinho raced clear as a substitute to win a penalty and, as the Palace fans asked where Haaland had been at Wembley, the No.9 converted from the spot for his 23rd goal of the season. Before Christmas.
As City grow, the gap to Arsenal is closing.
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