After seeing off both West Ham United and Bournemouth without conceding a goal in their opening two Premier League games, Man City had to fight back from 3-1 down against Newcastle last Sunday to draw 3-3 at St James’ Park.
The Magpies went into half time 2-1 ahead before former City academy graduate Kieran Trippier fired the hosts two goals in front after the break with a trademark free kick. However, two strikes within three second-half minutes from Erling Braut Haaland and Bernardo Silva restored parity for the reigning top-flight champions.
While Pep Guardiola will have been pleased to have seen his side rescue a point, the Spanish boss will feel that his team missed the chance to move further ahead of title challengers Liverpool, who are yet to win this term and suffered a 2-1
defeat away at Manchester United on Monday. Five points currently separate City from Jurgen Klopp’s men, while the Citizens are now two points behind new league leaders Arsenal.
Since last weekend’s draw with Newcastle, City played out the same result in a charity friendly against Barcelona at Camp Nou on Wednesday in honour of former Barca goalkeeper and coach Juan Carlos Unzue, who has been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Both sides had their star names on show, and it was Julian Alvarez, Cole Palmerand Riyad Mahrez who all got themselves on the scoresheet for the Citizens, with the latter netting a 99th-minute equaliser from the penalty spot.
City now turn their attention back to the Premier League and will welcome their return to the Etihad Stadium where they have won each of their last five top-flight games, scoring 20 goals in the process.
However, the Citizens will be wary of the threat that Palace are likely to pose, as the Eagles secured a surprise 2-0 win at the Etihad last season. Interestingly, City’s only two Premier
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League defeats in their last 54 matches to have kicked off a 3:00pm have come against Palace, including last season’s loss and a 3-2 defeat in December 2018.
Crystal Palace followed up their hard-earned 1-1 draw away at Liverpool with a 3-1 victory against Aston Villa at Selhurst Park last weekend.
After Ollie Watkins had put the visitors into an early lead, a brace from star man Wilfried Zaha – who has now netted three goals in as many league games – and a strike from Jean-Philippe Mateta helped the hosts turn the game on its head to secure their first top-flight win of the new campaign.
Patrick Vieira’s men have since progressed from the second round of the EFL Cup after beating third-tier outfit Oxford United 2-0 away from home on Tuesday, with Odsonne Edouard and Luka Milivojevic both on the scoresheet in the final 20 minutes.
