Much like Chelsea a few weeks ago, Palace left the Etihad yesterday feeling proud of their performance away at one of the top clubs in the country, and arguably feeling like a point may have been deserved.
In the end though, quality told and Manchester City scored the solitary goal they needed to overcome the Eagles. Dzeko’s strike midway through the second half actually came at a time when Palace had been pushing and came close to opening the scoring themselves, and was almost instantly cancelled out by Joel Ward.
Before the game, the general feeling around the national media was a case of how much Palace could limit City to. After all, they had a +32 goal difference going into the game, including some big score-lines against title rivals such as Arsenal and United.
However, one goal was all that the Eagles gave up and the performance was certainly a very positive thing to take away. Although on a basic level, the team took zero points this sort of performance can definitely give the team confidence throughout the rest of the campaign. The goal difference column is only one worse off, and despite the defeat other results went the Eagles’ way to make sure that they end 2013 out of the relegation zone, something which seemed very unlikely just a few weeks ago.
The one concern from this game will be the energy expended by the squad in putting in such a performance. City were able to make a number of changes, but Palace remained unchanged which means they’re starting 11 had started two games in 48 hours. There is an important game against Norwich coming up in a matter of days so it would have been understandable for Pulis to rest some key players with New Years Day in mind.
After the Chelsea game, expectation was perhaps a bit too high going into the home match with Newcastle and that saw a convincing 3-0 defeat. Lessons must be learned from this as the team, and supporters, approach Norwich. Tony Pulis will of course make everyone aware of this and his team selection will be interesting, considering the recent reverting from two to one striker, and with Cameron Jerome picking up an injury.
Whatever happens on New Years Day, Palace’s showing in Manchester can certainly be drawn on down the line, and could make for an interesting encounter with the Canaries.
Daniel Smith - @dmsmith1987