Manchester City ran out as comfortable winners against Crystal Palace to apply pressure to Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table.
Erling Haaland scored twice and Phil Foden netted once for City,
who controlled proceedings from start to finish.
Despite having Ismailla Sarr and Jean-Phillipe Mateta available after injury, the hosts struggled to provide much of an offensive threat particularly after the break.
Haaland had given City the lead before half time with a powerful header from a good Matheus Nunes cross, before Foden doubled the lead with a crisp strike from the edge of the box after tremendous work from Rayan Cherki.
The Norwegian striker completed the rout in injury time as he sent Dean Henderson the wrong way from the penalty spot, after Savinho was fouled when through on goal.
The win at Selhurst Park moves City to within two points of leaders Arsenal, and means Palace missed the opportunity to move into the top four.
Here are three things we learned as City took all three points in London:
The attack can function without Doku
It was a big blow to see Jeremy Doku not even on the bench when the lineups dropped, but you can’t honestly say City missed him at any point after the first goal was scored.
The first half set up was odd, with Josko Gvardiol at left centre back pushing really high and Nico Gonzalez filling in for him. Matheus Nunes sat deep, leaving Cherki to hold width on the right hand side. Hugging the touchline is not the Frenchman’s game at all.
But after the first goal, there was more fluidity of movement with Cherki, Foden, Bernardo Silva and Tijjani Reijnders all interchanging behind Haaland up front.
Cherki and Foden combined for the second goal, whilst substitute Savinho won the penalty very well for the third and final goal of the game.
Doku will be sorely missed if his injury is to be anything serious, but the rest of the attacking talent that City employ is good enough to compensate for his absence.
Rest is needed across the next two games
But this team can’t keep on playing as often as it is.
Every player from the XI that started yesterday has also started most of City’s games from the resumption of play after the international break.
The likes of Savinho, Nathan Ake, Oscar Bobb and Abdukodir Khusanov have hardly had a look in, and Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri won’t for another six weeks as they go to represent Egypt and Algeria respectively at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The next two games are both at the Etihad Stadium against opposition that City should be expected to beat; Brentford in the Carabao Cup quarter final and West Ham United in the league.
I expect those games will be used to give most, if not all, of the first team players a chance to rest ahead of the busy Christmas and new year period.
We’re no longer reliant on Haaland – but him scoring goals helps
Back at the start of the season if Haaland wasn’t firing, it looked tricky to see where City might grab their goals from.
As it is now, there are plenty of candidates.
Foden is joint third in the Premier League scoring charts after yet another goal against Palace. Doku has taken a step up and whilst Cherki isn’t providing goals, he’s certainly chipping in as the Premier League’s top assister so far this season.
Reijnders has the ability to contribute more but clearly needs time to settle after a stunning debut, whilst both centre backs have scored a few goals recently too.
And of course, Haaland is continuing to score at an astonishing level. 36 goals for club and country before Christmas is unprecedented if your name isn’t Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, and right now, he is playing at their level.
Whilst he keeps scoring and the other attackers carry on supporting him, there’s no reason why City can’t go on to win the biggest trophies this season.
