Phil Foden will not wish to see a replay of the hoof that struck Jean-Philippe Mateta’s shin and felled him in Manchester City’s penalty area and led Paul Tierney to point to the spot deep in added time. The referee was correct: Foden’s agricultural challenge was a cast-iron penalty and so up stepped Michael Olise with cucumber cool to roll the ball to Edison’s right for the equaliser, City’s goalkeeper guessing the wrong way.
This sealed the proverbial nightmare for Foden, whose anguish was deepened by him ceding possession for the Palace sequence that led to the penalty. The video assistant referee checked Tierney’s decision – possibly for a push on Foden – but the penalty stood and after the restart Palace again roved up the champions’ end and might have grabbed the winner, City thwarting a late, late corner.
It was, though, a classic rope-a-dope comeback from the visitors, who in the 76th minute were 2-0 behind. At that juncture Jack Grealish’s first-half strike had appeared to send City on their Saturday night flight to the Club World Cup in the rosiest of moods as for the first time he had scored in three successive Premier League games.
This impressed the watching Gareth Southgate, as did Rico Lewis, whose scent for a scoring zone had him deep in Palace’s area to hammer in City’s second on 54 minutes, a sublime touch from a third England man, Foden, creating this.
Foden also fashioned their opener on a good day for Southgate to be here, as Marc Guéhi had a lead part in Palace’s first when lifting a sweet 60-yard ball into Jeffrey Schlupp, who outpaced Rúben Dias and slid the ball over from the left for Mateta to beat Ederson at close range.
Palace’s completion of the comeback means City could be up to 12 points behind the leaders, Liverpool, by the next time they play – on 27 December, at Everton – owing to their Club World Cup commitments. On Tuesday, at 7pm at Saudi Arabia’s Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium, Pep Guardiola’s side take on Urawa Red Diamonds, of Japan’s J-League, in their semi-final and will have to shake off this disappointment quickly.
Palace’s dying-moments effort is the latest to frustrate City – the count now standing at five games in which they have conceded from the 80th minute onwards. The 3-3 draw with Tottenham here at the start of the month featured an added-time leveller from Dejan Kulusevski. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s finish for Liverpool the week before with 10 minutes remaining meant a share of the points for the visitors, too. This followed Cole Palmer’s last-gasp penalty for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the previous league game for another draw. On 8 October Gabriel Martinelli’s 86th-minute finish consigned City to defeat at Arsenal.
Even before Mateta’s tap-in, Guardiola’s agitation was tangible on the touchline as he observed his men easing off, the manager later saying his frustration was accentuated by Palace having few chances apart from those for their goals.
It was no surprise that the arch-pragmatist Roy Hodgson left the attacking zest of Eberechi Eze on the bench, though it was a shame for those who appreciate the defensive arts less. Palace’s manager, of course, has to do what he has to do and so a five-man rearguard was configured and, when possible, Olise was asked to push up in support of the lone striker, Mateta.
In the final analysis Hodgson was vindicated, for which he deserves plaudits. Yet for long passages the contest was all about City breaching the visitors. The sight of their sky blue shirts in fluid motion has been rarer recently but for three-quarters of the match the champions were close to their best form.
A move down City’s right in which Kyle Walker caressed the ball on to Julián Álvarez’s head and that ended with a Dean Henderson dive-and-tip-away augured well. So, too, an equally liquid sequence along the same flank, when Bernardo Silva prodded the ball inside, Lewis helped it on and Rodri’s shot ricocheted off Guéhi. This came after Dias’s slicing diagonal had missed narrowly to Henderson’s right.
Grealish’s goal was City at their slickest and quickest. A short pass from the eventual scorer near Palace’s 18-yard line went to Dias, who found Foden in a thicket of players around the D. A cheeky sidefoot through Joel Ward’s legs sprung Grealish, whose finish was unerring.
Lewis’s first league goal should really have killed off Palace. But, as Guardiola bemoaned, if a penalty is given away in the manner of Foden then you do not deserve to win. Now, it is to Saudi Arabia for their mission to become world champions.
