Olise’s 95th-minute penalty denies Manchester City and caps Palace comeback
Phil Foden will not wish to see a replay of the hoof to Jean-Philippe Mateta’s shin that felled Crystal Palace’s centre-forward in Manchester City’s area and had Paul Tierney pointing to the spot deep in added time.
The referee was correct: Foden’s agricultural challenge was a cast-iron penalty and up stepped Michael Olise with cucumber-cool to roll the ball past Ederson to the goalkeeper’s right for the equaliser.
After the restart Palace soon again roved up the champions’ end and might have grabbed the winner, City thwarting a late late corner. It was, though, a classic rope-a-dope comeback from the visitors who were 2-0 behind after 76 minutes.
At that juncture Jack Grealish’s first-half strike had appeared to send City on the way to their Saturday night flight to the Fifa Club World Cup in the rosiest of moods. He did what he has never done before: register in three successive Premier League games.
This impressed the watching Gareth Southgate, as, too, did Rico Lewis, whose scoring instinct had him deep in Crystal Palace’s area to hammer in City’s second on 54 minutes, after a sublime touch from Foden.
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The midfielder also created City’s opener on a good day for Southgate to be here as Marc Guéhi had a lead part in Palace’s first. The defender lifted a sweet 60-yard ball into Jeffrey Schlupp who outpaced Rúben Dias and slid the ball in from the left for Mateta to beat Ederson at close range.
Palace’s comeback means City could be up to 12 points behind the leaders Liverpool by the next time they play – on 27 December, at Everton – due to their Club World Cup commitments.
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On Tuesday at 7pm at Saudi Arabia’s Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium, Pep Guardiola’s men take on Urawa Red Diamonds, of Japan’s J-League, in the Club World Cup semi-finals, and will have to shake off this disappointment quickly.