De Bruyne inspires Man City fightback to beat Palace

Kevin De Bruyne played a starring role as Manchester City came from behind to beat Crystal Palace 5-2 at the Etihad Stadium.

The Citizens captain – who confirmed last week he will leave the club at the end of the season – grabbed a goal and an assist as they boosted their hopes of UEFA Champions League qualification.

Goals from Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards put Palace in the driving seat midway through the first half.

Eze then thought he had made it 3-0 to the Eagles but the goal was disallowed after being flagged offside by the linesman. This was checked by semi-automated offside technology, for the first time in the Premier League, which confirmed the Englishman had gone too early.

The new technology was used for the first time to show how the Palace winger had strayed into an offside position

Pep Guardiola’s team produced arguably their best performance of the season in the second half, with Mateo Kovacic, James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly scoring to condemn Palace to their first defeat in 11 away Premier League games.

City made the brighter start but found themselves behind when, following a sweeping move, an unmarked Eze tucked away Ismaila Sarr’s cross at the far post.

Palace doubled their lead in the 21st minute when Richards nodded in Adam Wharton’s corner, while semi-automated offside technology – which is being used in the Premier League for the first time this weekend – confirmed the decision to chalk off another Eze strike.

City came roaring back, halving their deficit in the 32nd minute as De Bruyne whipped a 25-yard free-kick in off the post. Marmoush dragged them level four minutes later, drilling home after the ball broke loose in the box.

The hosts completed the turnaround within two minutes of the restart, with De Bruyne teeing up Kovacic to fire home from 20 yards, but they were not done there.

McAtee latched onto Ederson’s long kick and rounded Dean Henderson to make it 4-2 soon afterwards, while O’Reilly’s deflected volley added further gloss to the scoreline 11 minutes from time.

Despite the defeat, there were still plenty of positives for Palace, and that is what they must focus on with Newcastle, AFC Bournemouth and Arsenal providing their next three Premier League opponents, before facing Aston Villa in the FA Cup semi-finals.

With Newcastle United and Chelsea not playing until Sunday, City took advantage to move above them into fourth, while Palace stay 11th.

(Premier League)