Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 8:22 PM• Rian Rosendaal

Manchester City did not drop a stitch on Saturday in the race for the English national title. Manager Josep Guardiola saw that his team had a hard time with the stiff Crystal Palace, which was defeated 0-1 in minute 78 by a converted penalty from Erling Braut Haaland. The Premier League’s top scorer is now at 28 goals. Manchester City is approaching leader Arsenal to two points, although the Londoners will only face Fulham on Sunday.

Guardiola made two changes to his South London squad from last week’s 2-0 win over Newcastle United. John Stones was preferred to Kyle Walker at right-back and Bernardo Silva replaced Kevin De Bruyne shortly behind Haaland. Jack Grealish and Phil Foden had to provide supply from the flanks towards attack leader Haaland. Guardiola gave confidence to Nathan Aké at left back. There were also basic places in the back for Rúben Dias and Manuel Akanji. Ilkay Gundogan and Rodri had to control the visitors’ midfield.

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The Norwegian hits from the spot and brings the spell; 0-1 ????https://t.co/2l1rIQjzEB#ViaplaySportNL #ViaplayFootball pic.twitter.com/VQ0wPfqibv

— Viaplay Sport Netherlands (@viaplaysportnl) March 11, 2023

Manchester City had a lot of the ball in the early stages, but holes were hardly found in Palace’s tight-knit defence. After playing for almost half an hour the Citizens finally to enforce a great opportunity. Silva managed to reach Aké in the box and the left back put the ball straight to Haaland. The Norwegian superstar failed miserably by shooting over at close range. Manchester City continued to look for the opening in the front, but a goal was also not forthcoming in the four minutes of injury time. So take care of Guardiola and his men halfway at Selhurst Park.

The game image remained unchanged after the break, with Manchester City as the dominant team. Foden seemed to make the much desired 0-1 with a free kick, but goalkeeper Vicente Guaita was alert and kept the ball out of his goal. The same Foden was relieved shortly afterwards by striker Julián Álvarez. Aké got none when he knocked down Michael Olise after a failed cross. The long-awaited goal for the title candidate came more than ten minutes before the end: Olise knocked Gündogan down in the box, so that the ball hit the spot. Haaland then sent Guaita into the wrong corner with a bet in the bottom corner: 0-1. De Bruyne replaced Silva shortly afterwards, but that did not lead to more goals for Manchester City. However, three very important points were taken in the battle with leader Arsenal for the championship.