October 19 2019

Holmesdale Fanatics display for Joel Ward, who completed 200 league appearances for the Eagles

Two goals in the first half from Manchester City were enough to defeat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Eagles manager Roy Hodgson was forced to make a few changes to his lineup, from the side which beat West Ham two weeks ago.

Luka Milivojevic returned to the midfield from serving a one game suspension for picking up five yellow cards. Vicente Guaita and Martin Kelly were also absent through injury, so they were replaced by Wayne Hennessey and James Tomkins.

Palace had to absorb a lot of City pressure early on, with Hennessey by far the busier keeper. Milivojevic picked up another yellow card in the 12th minute, with a late challenge on Gabriel Jesus - making his defensive duties for the rest of the game, that bit harder.

The City pressure finally paid off in the 39th minute when Bernardo Silva's cross was met with a glancing diving header by Jesus, which bounced off the inside of the post and trickled into the net.

It was double trouble for the home side within 90 seconds of the restart - a flowing City move made it's way to Raheem Sterling who dinked a ball over the Palace defence to David Silva who connected with a volley that squeezed past the legs of Hennessey to make it 0-2.

In the second half, Palace had their chances to come back into the game - Cheikhou Kouyate had a shot from distance that went well over Ederson's goal and Christian Benteke, coming on as a substitute met a Van Aanholt corner with a towering header, only to see Ederson push it onto the bar.

City did have their own chances through Sterling, Jesus and Bernardo Silva, but couldn't find the net again, and the game ended 0-2.

Palace: Hennessey, Ward, Tomkins (Dann, 83), van Aanholt, Cahill, Zaha, Schlupp (Townsend, 55), Milivojevic (Benteke, 76), Kouyate, McArthur, Ayew

Subs not used: McCarthy, Meyer, Riedewald, Henderson

Man City: Ederson, Cancelo, Fernandinho, Rodri, Mendy, Silva (Stones, 79), Gundogan, De Bruyne (Foden, 89), Jesus, Sterling, Silva

Subs not used: Angelino, Aguero, Garcia, Mahrez, Bravo

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