Man City stars can emulate club legends in crunch Crystal Palace fixture
13.03.2022 - 10:33
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Yaya Toure, Edin Dzeko, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Agüero have all stepped up with huge goals at Selhurst Park for Manchester City in previous title run-in’s – so it is now time for a member of the current crop to do the same.
After City’s sensational derby day win, there was a certain sense of relief that Pep Guardiola’s side had put behind them a shaky run of form. There was only one defeat to Spurs that actually rocked the boat, but further performances against Everton and Peterborough United were far from convincing.
The Blues had found their groove again and swatted aside their local rivals, with the Reds barely laying a glove on the defending champions. But one team who knocked City clean off their feet were Crystal Palace, who back in October, inflicted City’s second Premier League defeat of the season.
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Monday’s opponents will pose a significant threat to City retaining their league crown, however, it’s not an unusual position for the Blues going into a title run-in.
Let’s go back to perhaps the biggest of them all – April 27 2014. Warming up next to the away faithful, the City players would usually only see a cluster of fans taking their seats during their warm-up – usually, because the rest are enjoying a pie and a pint in the concourse.
But that day was different. Even 30 minutes before kick-off, that away section was full and in fine voice. The reason? Crystal Palace had kindly shown Liverpool’s 2-0 home defeat to Chelsea on the big screen – meaning the title was now in City and Manuel Pellegrini’s hands.
It made that Sunday afternoon was one of the biggest of the season, and City’s players certainly rose to that. Edin Dzeko met Yaya Toure’s