10 min: Sterling rolls painfully wide! Guardiola has his head in his hands as Sterling, totally unmarked, passes the ball beyond the post after some sheer brilliance by David Silva. The Spaniard danced to the byline, twisting and bamboozling his way past James McArthur before laying the ball on a plate for Sterling. He really should have stuck the ball away.
7 min: This time the corner is cleared, with Benteke nodding away inside his own box. Kompany had again lost his marker but City failed to pick him out.
6 min: Gündogan’s corner causes confusion, with Kompany’s burst to the front post panicking Palace but they clear their lines. City win the ball on the edge of the area through de Bruyne, and then Mendy, and the visitors earn another corner. It’s one-way traffic.
5 min: Wan-Bissaka makes a clever challenge on Sané. City will swing the resulting corner in …
4 min: Benteke does well to hold the ball and feed Schlupp. They garner a bit of joy off the second ball, which culminates in Miliovjevic having a pop from 25 yards. It sails over, but that’s as good as it’s got so far for Palace.
2 min: Silva gets his feet in a muddle as he attempts to convert Kyle Walker’s dangerous low cross goalwards. Half a chance for City. Palace, firmly in the shadow in the early stages, have not had a sniff.
1 min: Kevin de Bruyne flights in an early free-kick from the right but Scott Dann clears. City duly recycle possession, with Palace getting 11 men entrenched behind the ball. It could be a long afternoon for Palace.
Teemu Pukki nets Norwich an equaliser; that’s his 28th goal of the season. A huge final 10 minutes are in store in a big game at the top and bottom of the Championship. Do join Rob Smyth:
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“Your wingers don’t like him! Wan-Bissaka! Wan-Bissaka” ♫♫ Sané will keep the Palace full-back busy but Mendy could have his hands full on his first league start in five months:
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Team news news: Benjamin Mendy starts his first Premier League match since 11 November as Pep Guardiola makes four changes to his Manchester City team. Gone are the days of hoax trips to Hong Kong or going clubbing at 3am. Kevin de Bruyne, Vincent Kompany and Leroy Sané – all of whom were given a bit of a breather at Tottenham Hotspur in midweek – are also back in from the off, while Fernandinho is absent. For Palace, Christian Benteke starts his first league match since 9 February. Guardiola says “we’ll see”, when asked about Fernandinho’s fitness for Wednesday v Spurs.
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Team news!
Crystal Palace: Guaita; Wan-Bissaka, Kelly, Dann, van Aanholt; McArthur, Milivojevic; Schlupp, Townsend, Zaha; Benteke
Subs: Hennessey, Ward, Meyer, Kouyaté, Ayew, Batshuayi, Sako
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Kompany, Laporte, Mendy; Gündogan, D Silva; De Bruyne, Sané, Sterling; Agüero
Subs: Muric, Danilo, Stones, B Silva, Mahrez, Otamendi, Jesus
Referee: Martin Atkinson
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Preamble
Over to you, Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s side can regain pole position in the Premier League – if only momentarily until Liverpool do battle with Chelsea at Anfield. It feels like a momentous day for City’s title hopes, and those aspirations of landing an unprecedented quadruple, but next week could well have an even greater say on proceedings, while they visit Old Trafford on 24 April. City arrive in south London looking to rack up a ninth consecutive league victory, knowing a win would pile the pressure on Liverpool to get the job done later this afternoon. They did slip up in the Champions League at Tottenham in midweek, though that defeat does not truly blemish their impeccable form of late; they have conceded just once in their past seven league outings. The availability of Bernardo Silva and Oleksandr Zinchenko is in the balance because of their match fitness.
City will be wary, acutely aware that Selhurst Park has proved a graveyard for title campaigns in recent history, with Liverpool coming unstuck there in 2014 and City a year later. A more salient example of the threat posed by Crystal Palace is the way in which Andros Townsend helped Palace to an unlikely victory at the Etihad in December, the only team to prosper there in the league this season. As for Palace, they are saying all the right things. It is impossible to envisage Roy Hodgson’s side – 11 points above Cardiff – going down but they are not yet mathematically safe. “The teams below us would have a lot to do to catch us,” Hodgson said.
Kick-off: 2.05pm (BST)
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