Silva stars as City thrash Palace to maintain Champions League bid
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: David Silva returned from injury with a goal as Manchester City strengthened their Champions League qualification chances with a comfortable 5-0 win over Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Silva, out for a fortnight after suffering a blow to his knee during the FA Cup semifinal defeat by Arsenal, struck inside the first two minutes.
Second-half goals from Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi completed the scoring as City leapfrogged Liverpool into third in the Premier League, on goal difference, and also moved four points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United.
Only the top four at the end of the season qualify for the Champions League, European club football’s leading competition, with City now having three Premier League games left to play this term.
But both Liverpool (at home to Southampton) and United (away to Arsenal) are in action Sunday.
For Palace, not yet safe from the threat of relegation, Saturday’s reverse was their third straight defeat.
City manager Pep Guardiola has spoken repeatedly over the last two months about his side’s failure to make possession and chances count, citing that as a reason for their relatively disappointing season. He would have been pleased that his side scored from their first attack, but not that they then passed up a series of first-half opportunities to add to that lead.
The goal, City’s fastest in any game this season, was well-worked, with Spanish playmaker Silva starting and finishing the move. Silva, making his 200th Premier League start, angled a chip towards Sterling and then, when the cross was half-cleared by Martin Kelly, timed his run perfectly to sidefoot a volley into the corner of the net.
For much of the opening half-anhour, it seemed inevitable that more goals would follow, as Palace offered little midfield resistance.
But a combination of poor final passes and sound goalkeeping from Palace’s Wayne Hennessey prevented
SCRAP City might even have lost their lead 10 minutes before half-time, when Palace’s Andros Townsend got down the right to cross, Christian Benteke climbed above stand-in right-back Fernandinho to head down, and Willy Caballero twisted to his left to make a fine one-handed save.
Half-time arrived with City in danger of being drawn into a scrap, with De Bruyne twice kicked by Jeffrey Schlupp, and Silva taking matters into his own hands by retaliating with a wild hack at Wilfried Zaha.
However, Guardiola’s side recovered a degree of composure at half-time, and extended their lead three minutes after the restart.
After De Bruyne’s corner had been cleared, Silva worked the ball back to the Belgium international, who rolled a pass inside for compatriot Vincent Kompany to sweep in with a vicious first-time shot.
Former Indian cricket team captain Mohammad Azharuddin visited Al Hail School of Cricket on Thursday. Azhar was very impressed with the facility, ground, nets and conference hall. He was pleasantly surprised by the number of kids/parents gathered at the academy to welcome him.
Azharuddin also praised the coaches at the academy and was happy to know that individual attention was paid to the ground space, nets and bowling machines handled by dedicated coaches.
He was accompanied by Rumesh Joseph Ratnayake, a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played in 23 Test and 70 ODIs from 1982 to 1993, and the present bowling coach of Oman team was also present.