C Palace 0 – 1 Man City

Erling Haaland’s late penalty with 12 minutes to go moved Manchester City within two points of Premier League leaders Arsenal for 24 hours at least, on a night when it looked like Pep Guardiola’s side would be frustrated.

City were wasteful for most of the Selhurst Park clash and Haaland himself could have walked away with the matchball. The Norwegian striker had a great chance to open the scoring on the hour mark but somehow missed the target from six yards out with the goal gaping.

But just as Guardiola was about to bring Kevin De Bruyne on, Ilkay Gundogan was felled by a clumsy Michael Olise challenge in the box, leaving Haaland to strike home the penalty.

Victory means City have applied the pressure on Arsenal, who are now just two points ahead of the reigning champions ahead of their Super Sunday London derby at Fulham, live on Sky Sports from 2pm.

Palace, meanwhile, failed to test Ederson in the 90 minutes, meaning they are the first Premier League club since Opta began taking data in 2003 to fail to register a shot on target for three consecutive games.

More to follow…

What’s next?

Manchester City’s attention now turns away from the Premier League, as they host RB Leipzig in the Champions League last-16 second-leg on Tuesday night, before welcoming Vincent Kompany’s Burnley in the FA Cup quarter-final on the following Saturday.

Palace host Brighton in the Premier League in midweek, before travelling to Arsenal next Sunday.