Crystal Palace v Manchester City: Premier League – live | Premier League

Half-time entertainment. A reminder that there’s some top-class rugby currently going on …

… as well as some world-class political bullshit.

HALF TIME: Crystal Palace 0-0 Manchester City

45 min: Akanji needlessly skittles Zaha out on the left flank. A chance for the hosts to load the City box … which they do, but Olise’s delivery isn’t up to much. City clear their lines.

43 min: Haaland and Guehi clash on the halfway line. The former sticks out a right arm and connects with the latter’s shoulder. The home fans want Haaland to be sent off. The referee limits the punishment to a stern word or two, which to be fair is more appropriate, as there didn’t seem to be too much in it. A lot of noise over nowt.

41 min: Milivojevic nicks Silva to the ground, 35 yards out on the City left. The Palace captain wants to watch himself here, having already been booked. He got away with a lunge on Rodri earlier, too, just after giving the ball away on the half-hour and just before picking up his yellow card. One more daft challenge and he could be walking.

39 min: Foden crosses deep from the right, forcing Andersen to head behind for another City corner, this time on the left. Foden takes. Palace half clear, only for Grealish to play a delicious first-time diagonal ball back to Foden, breaking into the box from the left. One touch and bang … is what should have happened. But he elects to cross into a crowded central zone, and Palace are able to clear.

37 min: Foden, having previously been off it, suddenly ratchets up the quality of his output, slaloming in gracefully from the right, beating three challenges, then winning a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece, but you can’t keep a good man down for too long, huh.

36 min: City have enjoyed 72 percent possession so far, and 21 touches in the opposition box to Palace’s three. But look at the scoreline.

35 min: The rain continues to sheet down.

33 min: Palace have been seriously under the cosh, so they do well to finally bust upfield, Zaha buying a cheap free kick from Dias, then from the resulting set piece winning a corner down the left. Nothing comes from the set piece, but all of this allows Palace to slow things down a little. They were threatening to fall apart back there.

31 min: Milivojevic completes a bad minute by raking his studs down Rodri and picking up a booking. The resulting free kick is swung in from the right and nearly finds Rodri at the far stick. His header is blocked by Guaita.

30 min: Milivojevic miscontrols 25 yards from his own goal and suddenly Haaland is tearing into the Palace box. Haaland fires a low, hard cross into the mixer from the left. There’s some pinball. The ball breaks back to Haaland, who tries again. This one – more of a shot, perhaps – is sliced wide right.

28 min: … so having said that, City carve Palace open down the left, Grealish slipping Ake into space on the wing. Ake crosses low. Haaland leans back and lifts a shot over from eight yards. That really should have been the opener, and the pained look on Haaland’s face suggests he knows it.

27 min: City are enjoying the lion’s share of possession, but they haven’t put Guaita to work that often. Palace will be pleased enough with the way this is going.

25 min: Akanji crosses from the right. Haaland is denied a header by Andersen. Then Silva delivers from the left. Haaland prepares to nut home again, only for Schlupp to step in front of him and eyebrow away from danger. That’s great defending to deny the City striker.

23 min: Foden plays another loose pass in the centre circle, and for a second it looks as though Palace will break quickly again. Zaha and Lokonga combine down the left but an attempt to thread a pass upfield to Olise is blocked by the alert Akanji, who has done Foden a big favour there.

21 min: Silva takes a quick throw in from the right. Rodri catches Palace napping and connects with it, bursting down the channel and into the box. But he takes a heavy touch and it’s a goal kick. Better control and he would have been free in the area with a chance to leather home from ten yards.

19 min: Rodri steams down the middle before laying off to Haaland on his right. Haaland attempts a low diagonal shot towards the bottom left, but it’s blocked the second it leaves his boot.

18 min: A free kick for Palace just inside the City half. Olise wedges it down the right flank, in the hope of releasing Guehi into the box. But the ball skids off the greasy turf and out for a goal kick.

16 min: Foden ships possession in the centre circle and allows Olise to tear off with the ball. He tries to hack his opponent down but misses. Olise continues towards the City box, then lays off to Zaha on his left. Zaha takes a shot from a tight angle but slams it straight at Akanji.

15 min: Gundogan dribbles down the inside-right channel only to be nudged from behind by Ayew. It would have been a soft free kick, but you’ve certainly seen them given. Not this time, though. Gundogan is incensed.

13 min: Haaland attempts to spin Andersen just outside the Palace box. Legs tangle and he falls over, claiming for a free kick. A penalty perhaps? But the referee rules in favour of Palace. That’s one of those decisions that could have gone either way. The referee taking the path of least resistance.

11 min: Some real estate for Haaland to hare into down the right. Palace are collectively on the back foot, but Haaland’s low cross flies to nobody in particular and the hosts can clear their lines.

9 min: Foden benefits from a fortunate ricochet off Mitchell down the right. He lays off to Silva, who crosses towards Haaland on the penalty spot. Andersen does well to win the header with Haaland winding his neck back.

7 min: That fast start by both sides (but especially City) has got both sets of fans going. A great atmosphere at Selhurst, as there almost always is.

5 min: An odd one as the ball’s wedged down the inside-right for Zaha to chase. Dias loses the flight of the pass, and as he spins just outside the box, the ball slaps his arm very obviously. But the referee waves on, a supposed advantage. Palace would surely have preferred the free kick, on the edge of the box just to the right of the D. But they don’t get one.

4 min: Grealish dribbles infield from the left at high speed. He runs into a pocket of space just to the left of the D, only to drag his shot wide left. He should be hitting the target at the very least; when he was pulling the trigger, it looked like a goal was on the cards. A fast start by City, this!

3 min: The corner leads to some bagatelle in the box. Then Rodri pearls a shot through the crowded area towards the top left. Guaita parries brilliantly. Dias has another go, but his effort hits Guehi and Palace eventually clear. Just.

2 min: Some early pressure from City. Grealish probes down the left. Foden tears infield from the right. Grealish tries again down the left, then Ake is sent into space on the overlap. He wins the first corner of the evening after 90 seconds, and Palace haven’t touched the ball yet.

Manchester City get the ball rolling. It is pelting down in south London.

The teams are out! Palace in their red and blue, City in third-choice highlighter-pen yellow. A quick blast of Glad All Over and it begins.

Pep has his say. “At the end of the season, everyone is going to play the same games … we cannot control anything else … this is an important one, but the next one will be too … Palace are a physical team with a lot of quality up front … they are well organised and composed … they are always tough … Selhurst Park is a special place to come and tonight will be no exception.”

Patrick Vieira speaks to Sky. “We are really close to it … we should concentrate on the performance … if we play well, we have a better chance of winning a football game … we will have opportunities … we will have to defend well of course … we will have to be disciplined, tight between the lines, and aggressive … we need to go forward with desire and intensity … the attitude will be right today … our team are always up for it.”

A couple of the earlier results didn’t go Palace’s way. The Eagles sit in 12th right now, but they’re only six points from the bottom, and are very much in an almighty relegation stramash involving the bottom eight sides. There were big wins for Everton and Bournemouth against Brentford and Liverpool respectively, while Leeds salvaged a point against Brighton. Nottingham Forest and Leicester both lost, however, against Spurs and Chelsea respectively, passing up the opportunity to leapfrog Palace in the table. Palace should remain in 12th tonight unless City dish out one of their semi-regular hidings.

Crystal Palace make two changes to their starting XI following the 1-0 loss at Aston Villa last weekend. Luka Milivojevic and Jeffrey Schlupp replace Eberechi Eze, who drops to the bench, and the suspended Cheick Doucoure, who was sent off at Villa Park last week.

Manchester City also make two changes to the XI who started their last league match, the 2-0 win over Newcastle United at the Etihad. John Stones and Bernardo Silva replace Kevin de Bruyne and Kyle Walker, who drop to the bench.

The teams

Preamble