Manchester City suffered their first home loss in the English Premier League in eight months through a shock 2-3 defeat by Crystal Palace on Saturday.
It left Pep Guardiola’s champions trailing leaders Liverpool by four points.
Manchester City, who had won all nine home games in the league this season, are in second place on 44 points.
They are behind Liverpool who won 2-0 at Wolves on Friday and are now on 48 points.
German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan nodded City in front in the 27th minute, meeting a Fabian Delph cross from deep with a firm, downward header.
But Jeffrey Schlupp brought Palace level with a low diagonal shot into the bottom corner and Andros Townsend stunned the Etihad Stadium with a sensational volley.
Bernardo Sivla’s header out was met first time by Townsend who blasted his volley from 30 metres past helpless Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson.
Crystal Palace went 3-1 up through a Luka Milivojevic penalty kick in the 51st minute, after Kyle Walker brought down Max Meyer inside the box.
Guardiola brought on substitutes Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne and it was the Belgian midfielder who gave the home side hope with a cross-shot in the 85th minute.
Gabriel Jesus missed a stoppage-time chance when he headed over a De Bruyne cross from a promising position.
It was their first home league loss since the Manchester derby on April 7.
Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace had picked up just one point from their last six away games and had not won at Manchester City since 1990. (Reuters/NAN)
Leave a Reply