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Manchester City v Crystal Palace: Premier League – live | Premier League
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Half-time: Manchester City 2-0 Crystal Palace
This is the first time that Foden has provided two assists in the same Premier League game since December 2023.
45 min: One minute added on. It’s worth flagging that with those two goals, City are now level on goal difference with Arsenal.
Amazing save from Henderson to deny Gvardiol!
44 min: City so nearly add a third. Once again, it is Foden at the heart of things, crossing for Gvardiol. The Croatian rises at the far post, nods back across goal powerfully. It looks a certain goal before Henderson springs to this right and somehow palms it wide! Remarkable save! Gvardiol was wheeling away.
42 min: Foden is purring, there is a real spring in his step now. Amazing what a bit of confidence can do.
“Wrong way on the prayer wheel, Charles, the other way, the other way,” quips Justin Kavanagh, “and don’t set the house on fire with those candles.”
GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Crystal Palace (Marmoush 40)
Another Foden assist! Aït-Nouri lofts a ball over the top to Foden, who checks his mirrors and hooks a first-time pass square to Marmoush. The Egyptian lets the ball run across his body before swivelling and finishing past Henderson and the retreating Palace bodies on the line!
37 min: As kits go, neither the home City shirt (with the sash) nor this gold away number from Palace is one for the ages.
35 min: “Well that’s jinxed it – thanks Michael,” writes Charles Antaki of my comments on a lack of City invention before their goal. “Arsenal fans have it tough enough. I’m going to have to add another dozen candles to the altar and give the prayer wheel an extra energetic spin if the fates are to be rebalanced.”
33 min: You have to say that was a sublime assist from Foden. He has been woefully short of his best in recent months but the way he saw that opening and executed it with that neat back-heel was brilliant. That will not have been lost on Thomas Tuchel.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Crystal Palace (Semenyo 31)
City finally show some invention as Foden impudent backheel unlocks Palace’s defence. Semenyo is onto the through ball in a flash and finishes beautifully to find the far corner. Semenyo took it early, which completely wrong-footed Henderson in the Palace goal. A lovely goal! That’s what happens when you take risks in the final third.
28 min: He’s no Mahrez on that right wing for City, but Savinho is still one of the best dribblers in the Premier League. Take on Mitchell, man! What’s the worst that could happen?!
26 min: City move the ball into wide areas, then recycle it back centrally, them switch the play to the other flank and repeat. Eeeeeesh, this is turgid stuff.
23 min: Mikel Arteta and anyone associated with Arsenal will be watching this (or reading this?) with encouragement. City have been very poor, despite having 80% possession.
21 min: It’s bucketing it down in Manchester. Bernardo Silva will miss this.
19 min: Just as I write that, City create their first real chance! It’s a clumsy City move, but ultimately an effective one as Aït-Nouri plays a one-two with Foden and bundles his way past Muñoz before dragging a shot wide of the near post with his weaker right foot.
17 min: Lots of possession and probing from City. Not a lot of incision. This very much looks like a rusty attacking unit missing the invention of Doku and Cherki.
15 min: Guéhi is yet to taste defeat in a City shirt, in the Premier League. I wonder how the former Palace captain is feeling tonight, against his old teammates.
13 min: And from the corner, Richards rises at the near post and nods over! The Palace defender should probably have scored, jumping over Guéhi.
12 min: Another foray from Palace down the left! City don’t look comfortably defensively in this new formation and Johnson streams down the left wing unopposed. He crosses for Pino, alone on the penalty spot, and the Spaniard shoots towards the bottom corner … but Gvardiol gets back to make a crucial block! The ball squirts behind for a corner.
10 min: A word for Jaydee Canvot, who has slotted into the Palace defence to replace the outgoing Marc Guéhi, to Manchester City of course. The French teenager has been sensational and the only Palace player to start the last 17 matches for the club.
8 min: A couple of City corners, but Palace head the ball away to safety.
6 min: Palace are defending deep but have twice sprung forward quickly on the counter attack, latterly with Mitchell down the left. The Palace academy product couldn’t find the right pass, though, and was eventually run out of play.
4 min: I had City down pre-match as a 4-3-3 but I think they might be playing wing backs tonight, with Aït-Nouri and Mateus Nunes on either flank? It’s not actually very clear. Gvardiol looks as though he is playing in midfield when City are in possession and slots in as a centre-back when Palace have the ball. My head hurts.
Crystal Palace goal disallowed?!
2 min: It’s not clear if the ball crossed the line as Mateta connects with a Johnson cross, but the former Nottingham Forest winger is eventually called back for offside, only after Donnarumma claws the ball out from his goalmouth. Replays show that Johnson was just off, so correct decision. A good start from Palace!
Peeeeeeep!
The teams are out! City in their sky blue, Palace in their away gold strip. We are ready to go!
“Fantasy managers everywhere who waited patiently for this week to play their triple captain card on Haaland are cursing Pep right now,” sighs Robert Jenkins.
A big night, then, for Phil Foden. The 2024 PFA Players’ Player of the Year has been very underwhelming this season and has fallen out of Guardiola’s favoured XI in recent months. At the moment, Foden looks unlikely to make England’s World Cup squad. In terms of No 10s, Morgan Rogers, Jude Bellingham, Eberechi Eze, Cole Palmer (if fit) and Morgan Gibbs-White are ahead of Foden at present, I would suggest. Time for the 25-year-old to step up.
“Wow! Pep leaving his three best attackers on the bench!” writes Justin Kavanagh. “He’s definitely choosing tails in that title coin-flip tonight.”
Pep Guardiola explains his team selection to Sky Sports:
There is a risk in making changes but the manager is here to take the risk. We have to take it. People may not believe me but I trust my players. In three days we have to travel to London, it’s always a long trip, while Chelsea do not have to travel. Then we immediately have to travel to Bournemouth [for next Tuesday’s game], one of the top-form teams, so everyone has to play these three games. The Premier League is so complicated. If those games were five or six days later, maybe the situation would have been different.
“Never mind who plays for Palace tonight it’s more about how; they were embarrassing at Bournemouth last week, the amount of tanking going on there was more to suited to Bovington a few miles up the road,” emails Dave Estherby.
Let’s unpack those teams.
Remarkably, it looks like Pep Guardiola is resting some of his key players for this Saturday’s FA Cup final. That is something of a shock, given the ongoing title race. There are six changes from the side that beat Brentford 3-0 on Saturday.
Josko Gvardiol makes a welcome return to the starting XI after a five-month absence. Phil Foden hasn’t started a league game since 4 March, but he comes in as well. This is Savinho’s first league start since New Year’s Day.
Palace make four changes but a couple of omissions aside, this is close to their strongest XI. Jean-Philippe Mateta makes his 199th appearance for Palace, Pino comes in for Sarr, while Lerma and Hughes replace Wharton and Kamada. It’s probably those latter two changes that weaken the visitors the most.
Team news! Haaland, Doku and Cherki on the City bench!
Manchester City (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Guéhi, Gvardiol; Ait-Nouri, Bernardo (c), Foden; Semenyo, Savinho, Marmoush
Subs: Trafford, Dias, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Kovacic, Haaland, Cherki, Doku.
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1): Henderson (c); Richards, Lacroix, Canvot; Munoz, Lerma, Hughes, Mitchell; Johnson, Pino; Mateta.
Subs: Benitez, Sarr, Clyne, Kamada, Wharton, Strand Larsen, Riad, Devenny, Cardines.
City’s women, of course, have already been already champions of England this season. And now they have a purpose-built £10m training facility to boot.
The state of play at the top of the Premier League table, as if you need reminding. This feels like last-chance saloon for City, win or bust.
Here’s what Pep Guardiola had to say before tonight’s match.
We lost the two finals of the FA Cup because the referees didn’t do their jobs they should do, even the VAR. When this happens it is because we have to do better, not the referees or VAR.
I never trust anything since I arrived [at City] a long time ago. Always I learned you have do it better – be in a position to do it better because [if not] you blame yourself with what you have to do, because [VAR] is a flip of a coin. You have to do better and better for yourself, and that is focusing on Crystal Palace for us.”
This isn’t the only crucial match to help decide a British title race tonight. It’s an absolutely gargantuan evening in Scotland: if Hearts beat Falkirk and Celtic lose to Motherwell, the Edinburgh side will be crowned champions for the first time since 1960.
Preamble
Manchester City should win this. Should. By the time that Arsenal play Burnley on Monday, Manchester City should be just two points behind the Gunners with two games to play. Should.
Of course, things are rarely as simple as should. It wasn’t too long ago that Palace were Manchester City’s bogey team – literally any excuse to wheel out the Andros Townsend volley from 2019, a Puskas Award nominee – and Guardiola will remember last year’s FA Cup final all too well.
The smart money says that Palace’s heroics won’t be repeated here. Palace have nothing to play for in the Premier League, other than keeping form and fitness for the Conference League final later this month. That European final comes just three days after their final match of the season, against Arsenal no less, and there is plenty of scrutiny on Oliver Glasner’s team selection both in that game and this evening against City. Will Palace’s manager rest his best? Will those that play perform with the same drive and verve as is normally expected? Glasner has hinted at squad rotation: “I’m responsible for Crystal Palace and I get paid for doing the best things for Crystal Palace and not for City and not for Arsenal.”
Motivation for City, of course, is not a problem. They have everything to play for domestically, both in the Premier League and this Saturday’s FA Cup final against Chelsea, and (that fateful 3-3 draw at Everton aside) are on a relentless run of form. Everything points to a City win and that’s exactly why we are here, in case it’s not.
Kick-off: 8pm BST.
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
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