PEP RALLIES Haaland rescues City to HIS MEN
ERLING HAALAND’S late penalty ensured Manchester City keep breathing down Arsenal’s necks as Pep Guardiola’s men, temporarily at least, closed the gap at the top to two points.
It was by no means pretty from the visitors.
But at this stage of the season – and with the title on the line – they simply won’t care how they
rack
the
points as long as they do.
Haaland had seen little of the ball in the 77 minutes which preceded his goal.
And, when he had got on it, he hadn’t been hugely effective.
But big players step up when it really matters and he slotted the ball home past Palace keeper Vicente Guaita, who really didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.
Palace came into the game having not won at home since October and having not won a game this calendar year.
The law of averages says they have to win one sooner rather than later, although it was hard to
imagine
that a game against title-chasing City would be the one from which their supporters left Selhurst Park properly happy for the first time in 2023.
Not that City would have been taking anything for granted of course, given Liverpool, Brighton, Newcastle and Manchester United have all been held to draws here in south London since mid-January.
It wasn’t surprising, though, that City had the majority of possession in the first half.
Yet despite their dominance, they weren’t their usual thrusting selves and lacked the kind of fluidity we’ve come to expect over the years from them.
Despite seeing so much more of the ball, they were limited in the number of serious chances they created.
Even so, they should still have gone in at the break at least one goal to the good after Nathan Ake put on a plate for Haaland the kind of opportunity you would expect a man as talented as he is to gobble up.
Haaland, however, was leaning back and he failed even to test Guaita in the Palace goal, blazing well over.
In fact, the only time Guaita had been tested in the entire first period was just two minutes into the game when Rodri caught a volley sweetly from the edge of the area.
The Spaniard matched a lovely effort with an equally good save. Credit to the home side for keeping compact defensively and putting the brakes on City almost every time they advanced.
Marc Guehi, in particular, gave Haaland little room to manoeuvre.
They did a proper job in cutting the supply line to Jack Grealish on the left and, while Phil Foden saw more of the ball out on the right, too often the final pass wasn’t clinical enough and Palace stopped it.
Silva busied himself but for all the hustle and bustle there was little doing really.
Not that Palace’s front men saw much of the ball, either, and Rodri – a man-mountain in midfield for the visitors – was the
primary reason for that. He really is an immense defensive midfielder.
Rodri was involved as City won a free-kick in the Palace D and so, too, was Guaita.
The City players on the end of the Palace wall split for Foden to drill a fierce effort on target but Guaita was again equal to the strike.
It would be Foden’s last contribution, with striker Julian Alvarez sent on to replace him just before the hour-mark.
Home keeper Guaita was having such a good game that perhaps the only way City were going to find a way past him was if it was from the penalty spot. And so it proved after Michael Olise suffered a rush of blood to the head.
Grealish played a short corner to Ilkay Gundogan and Olise sprinted to close him down.
A little loss of balance – just at the wrong moment – proved costly, though, and there was no doubt for referee Robert Jones o r anyone else in the stadium that it was a spot-kick.
Haaland picked the ball up and finally beat Guaita, sending him the wrong way with a cool finish that delighted his manager and team-mates.
In the final few minutes, Palace attempted to drag themselves back into the contest, but City held on to claim a potentially vital three points in the race for the Premier League title.
They are two points behind leaders Arsenal, who visit Fulham today. Palace, meanwhile, are 12th but just four points clear of the relegation zone in a congested bottom half.