Another setback for City after late leveller
Twenty-four hours after Pep Guardiola had joked that septuagenarian Roy Hodgson must have been compelled by boredom to continue coaching into his advanced age, Wilfried Zaha popped up in the dying seconds of this entertaining fist fight to remind the Catalan of the addictive and heart-stopping emotions thrown up by managing in the Premier League.
A weakened Palace line-up had won and lost the game already by the time James McCarthy played Zaha upfield, with City pressing for a third goal, and the winger’s cross was turned into his own net by Fernandinho, under pressure from Connor Wickham.
It was a stunning end to a pulsating final eight minutes in which Sergio Aguero had scored twice, continuing to write his name large in City’s record books and demonstrate why he has, arguably, been the central talisman of his club’s phenomenal decade.
But it was also a goal that showed in microcosm where City’s title defence has floundered this season, undermined by a defence sorely weakened since the end of August by the absence of the injured Aymeric Laporte.
The net result was a shot count of 25-5 in City’s favour, a corner count of 14-2, possession at 72 per cent to Guardiola’s team, but goals column reading all square.
“Last season, when they beat us here, it was the same,” said Guardiola. “They had three shots on target, they scored three. This season, the same.
“In general, the games we play against them, we control it. But we have dropped two points.
“The first goal, we have to avoid it, we just can’t allow Zaha to run. It’s simple. We allowed them and conceded the goal. The concentration was there, but it was a wrong decision. We’re going to solve it and improve it because in that situation, we cannot let them run on the counter-attack.”
Trailing to an opening goal by Cenk Tosun, Aguero equalised for City on 82 minutes, throwing himself instinctively at a hanging cross from Gabriel Jesus, to arrive ahead of his marker and volley into the Palace goal.
It was the 250th City career goal, in all competitions, for the Argentine and, as has so often been the case, goal number 251 was not far behind.
This time it was a simple, flowing City move that picked holes in an exhausted Palace rearguard; Fernandinho slipping the ball down the flank, Benjamin Mendy crossing accurately into the area and Aguero heading past Vicente Guaita’s dive.
It was Aguero’s 20th goal of the season, and his seventh in the last four days, a period that covers less than three weeks of City’s season and which underscores the consistency and productivity that have made the 31-yearold such a phenomenon.
It also looked like providing a birthday win for 49-year-old Guardiola, 23 years Hodgson’s junior, and one that would hardly have been unexpected given City’s run of nine wins from their previous 10 league and cup games.
But, as has been seen repeatedly this season, the current City side is a relatively pale shadow of the one that swept all before it domestically over the past two seasons, certainly in defence. And, in Hodgson, Guardiola has unearthed a rival worthy of his prodigious capabilities.
The City manager has only lost to two English managers during his tenure: Paul Cook of Wigan in a shock FA Cup upset two years ago and to Hodgson, 3-2 at the Etihad, last season.
When Tosun headed his side into a stunning lead, from his team’s first meaningful attack after 38 minutes, it appeared that Hodgson might be about to double his win tally against Guardiola, and again poor defending was the root cause.
Gary Cahill rose impressively above John Stones to meet McCarthy’s corner and headed towards the far post where
Tosun had been left unmarked, with Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan gravitating towards the ball.
Tosun, making his first start since joining Palace on loan from Everton, was left with the simple task of steering a header past Ederson in the home goal.
That goal meant that Guardiola’s defence has kept clean sheets in just two of their last 13 games.
“I answered that question a million times already,” said Guardiola, not unreasonably, when asked where this latest setback leaves the title “race.”
Things might, actually, have been worse, as the video assistant referee ruled out a claim for a Palace penalty, after a Stones challenge on Zaha, and Tosun had a “goal” correctly ruled out for a trip on Fernandinho.
City, meanwhile, could point to the inspired form of Palace keeper Guaita and their own VAR failure, after defender Jairo Riedewald kicked a Bernardo cross onto his own hand in the penalty area, as areas where the game was won and drawn.
“I don’t think we have a different approach or attitude to other teams,” said Hodgson of his recent successes at the Etihad. “With the quality they have – a very strong line-up and bench – they are going to ask a lot of questions defensively. You are going to have to work very hard. You are certainly going to have to ask questions of them when you get the ball.
“I think we did all of those things. I am not claiming that is something only Crystal Palace can do and only I as a coach have thought of. But I am proud of the win here last year and perhaps even more proud of the draw here this year because there were more reasons to fear a defeat here than last season.”