- Manchester City failed to build on their midweek win, drawing 2-2 at Crystal Palace.
- Defensive play remains a problem for the Citizens, who have now failed to win an away game for the sixth time in all competitions.
Manchester City failed to build on their midweek win as they drew 2-2 with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in the Premier League on Saturday.
Defensive problems saw the Citizens fall behind again when Maxence Lacroix headed home a corner. But the visitors equalised through Rico Lewis, who was later sent off with a second yellow card.
The draw makes their chances of defending the https://ufabet999.app title increasingly difficult and here’s what we saw from last night’s game.
Defense remains a problem
Palace took a quick lead in the fourth minute when Daniel Munoz finished sharply. However, Man City equalised through Erling Haaland to make it 1-1 at half-time.
Defensive fragility remains an issue that City have struggled to address, with 19 goals conceded in their previous seven games without a win due to injuries. Which has forced Pep to experiment with his defence and that fragility was on display again at Selhurst Park.
Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and John Stones are all injured and will miss out, with Josko Gvardiol, who has been a permanent left-back, shifted back to centre-back. While Rico Lewis plays left-back but moves into midfield when the team builds up.
Man City were repeatedly breached, with Palace’s early opener coming when Will Hughes’ cross was played to Munoz, who beat Lewis and fired past Stefan Ortega.
The absences of Rodri and Mateo Kovacic have compounded the problem and Pep will have to find a system to protect his defence. Without him, Ruben Dias believes City would have conceded more goals and probably lost.
Rico Lewis’s mixed feelings
Rico Lewis was the man to save a point for Man City. After scoring a 2-2 draw, with the youngster also keen to score against Crystal Palace.
All three of Lewis’s Premier League goals have come against Palace. Having scored home and away last season.
However, Lewis put his team at risk of losing the match. After being sent off for a second yellow card late on as the team looked to take the lead.
However, Lewis became only the second player to both score and be sent off in the same Premier League game for City under Pep Guardiola. After Raheem Sterling against Bournemouth in 2017.
Where has Kyle Walker’s old form gone?
What happened to Kyle Walker? One of the most consistent right-backs for club and country since joining Man City in the summer of 2017.
After the Euros, Walker became a completely different person. His speed, which was once his trademark, has plummeted dramatically.
Once again, he was easily dribbled away by opposing forwards. It’s no surprise that Rico Lewis has been usurped for his position since the start of the season. And even after recovering from injury, he still couldn’t compete with his younger team-mate.
Since the start of the season, there has not been a single game. In which Walker has been impressive enough to make us talk about him, and at 34. Pep will probably need to find a new right-back to compete with Lewis.
Man City drop points again
Manchester City’s draw in this game means they have only collected 4 points from their last 18 points after dropping points in another game.
Shockingly, Guardiola’s side have won just one of their last nine games in all competitions, a 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest in midweek.
The result means that Man City are still in 4th place in the table with only 27 points from 15 games, 7 points behind the leader Liverpool who have played 1 game less.