De Bruyne stars as Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 4-2

• Manchester City overcame an early deficit thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne, who scored his 99th and 100th goals in a Manchester City shirt.

Manchester City overcame an early deficit thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne, who scored his 99th and 100th goals in a Manchester City shirt.

Jean-Philippe Mateta’s early goal stunned the Sky Blues supporters into silence. Despite some careless play by City in the opening minutes, Kevin De Bruyne’s incredible goal put the visitors level at halftime.

However, Rico Lewis and Erling Haaland put City out of reach before De Bruyne scored his century for the Citizens, meaning that Odsonne Edouard’s late goal would be little comfort as Oliver Glasner’s team’s bright start quickly evaporated.

Palace quick start

Mateta opened the scoring for the home team Photo/ MSN

Mateta was left free by a defence-splitting ball from Adam Wharton. The Frenchman outpaced John Stones with a low shot across the box that struck the inside of the post and then slid over the line.

Mateta’s unexpected opening was followed by the usual City possession domination, but Dean Henderson held his ground in the Palace goal, blocking two excellent stops in as many minutes from Julian Alvarez and Rodri.

The champions swiftly equalized in the 13th minute, though, thanks to a curling shot into the top corner by De Bruyne after he picked up the ball on the right side of the box and cut inside Wharton. The former Manchester United goalkeeper was powerless to stop it.

After a frenzied start, chances kept coming in at both ends. In the eighteenth minute, Jordan Ayew’s shot went just inches past the net, and a minute later, Henderson triumphed in a one-on-one with Haaland following De Bruyne’s sharp through pass.

Unsurprisingly, the match slowed down in the second half of the first half, but in the 37th minute, Rodri made an unusual error that gave Ayew a decent chance, which he missed.

In the 43rd minute, City’s Spanish midfielder, who was not having the best of times at Selhurst Park, put his goalkeeper in danger by passing the ball back to Stefan Ortega without realizing Mateta was there. However, the champions’ number two miraculously avoided the situation with a deft touch, denying the Frenchman the opportunity.

Rico Lewis celebrates against Crystal Palace. Photo/ Manchester City

After finding their left wing lacking in the first half, Guardiola decided to replace Josko Gvardiol with Manuel Akanji. Two minutes into the second half, the champions eventually broke through Henderson’s goal again.

It was a left-wing attack, ironically, that caused the most damage. Joachim Andersen nodded a Jack Grealish pass into Lewis’s path, and his attempt chipped Jefferson Lerma’s foot and curled into the bottom corner.

In the 54th minute, Guardiola’s charges ought to have been out of sight, but Alvarez’s furious low shot was denied by a grounded Andersen, who was on the ground clutching his face after an earlier confrontation with Haaland.

Nevertheless, another deft play down the left saw Grealish and De Bruyne connect, and the latter’s toe-poke across the byline was met by Haaland for an easy finish. City would finally score the insurance goal in the 66th minute.

In the 70th minute, the visitors came out firing and again sliced up the Palace defense like butter. Rodri’s deft touch set up De Bruyne for a twisting low effort that sailed in at Henderson’s near side for his 100th Man City goal in all competitions.

In front of a muted crowd, Palace were content to wait for the full-time whistle following the historic goal by the Belgian. However, when the Eagles won the ball back high up the field, Ruben Dias and Stones both had to divert an Edouard effort to safety.

Though further late pressure from the hosts would come to nothing, the former Celtics player would cut the lead in the 86th minute by navigating Dias to meet Tyrick Mitchell’s cross and deftly toe-poking the ball past Ortega.

Man City’s victory on Saturday moves them momentarily up to second place, ahead of Arsenal, who may reclaim the silver medal this evening against Brighton & Hove Albion. Glasner’s team is still in 14th place, eight points above the relegation zone.