New Telegraph

Crystal Palace spoil Guardiola’s 200th as Laporte sees red

Pep Guardiola’s 200th Premier League match leading Manchester City was ruined by a sparkling show of power and effervescence from Wilfried Zaha that gave Patrick Vieira, the returning alumnus, the sweetest of victories as Crystal Palace manager.

Zaha scored the first after six minutes, created Conor Gallagher’s late clincher and generally terrorised the home centre-backs, Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte, causing the latter to be sent off during a fractious end to the first period.

 

If the defender deserved his punishment for wrestling Zaha to the turf as last man, City rallied impressively after the break but could not find an equaliser. It meant the champions lost a second league game of the season and a first at home since May, leaving Guardiola’s count at 146 wins and 29 defeats from his double century.

 

For the opening goal Zaha nicked the ball from a dithering Laporte, swapped passes with Gallagher and, as the angle started to close, beat Ederson to his left, the goalkeeper perhaps defeated by a rogue bobble.

 

This hushed the home crowd, who had witnessed the concession of a league goal for the first time this term, with 456 minutes in total passing since Chelsea scored here. City’s response was expected: a blue swarm that hustled for possession, with Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and Bernardo Silva moving Palace around. One sequence ended in João Cancelo claiming City’s first corner and when this dropped in the area Rodri hit the ball into Vicente Guaita’s midriff.

 

The visitors began the second half with a golden chance of defeating the 10 men, who were now configured by Guardiola in a 3-3-3. But the champions were not giving way easily: Rodri soon blasted over then after Grealish claimed a corner the ball broke to Foden, whose cross skidded across the area. Foden was about to see a sublime assist chalked off for a marginal offside.

 

John Stones, who had just come on for De Bruyne, chipped to the No 47, whose instant control and sweetly precise parabola found Jesus, who finished before VAR intervened.

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