Crystal Palace 1 Manchester City 0
20.46
HALF-TIME! That's it for the first half, with Palace somehow leading 1-0.
45 min
Toure has a go from about 40 yards but his effort is way off target. Frustration building for Pellegrini's side. One minute to be added on.
44 min
Murray, as well as Dann, was also offside for the Palace goal. Rough luck on the visitors.
42 min
Yet another chance goes begging for City - Dzeko flicks on Silva's corner but Demichelis smashes his volley over the bar. I can't believe Palace's luck won't run out soon.
40 min
Decent opening for Puncheon about 25 yards out but he's so one-footed that he tries to thread through a pass instead for Bolasie and the chance goes. Delaney then picks up a booking for scything down Aguero.
39 min
Murray is winning everything in the air against the City defenders - he's looking every inch the Premier League striker tonight.
37 min
That goal also has huge implications in the race for mid-table obscurity - Palace now leapfrog Everton into 11th place.
36 min
I can't stress how against the run of play that was, but as the commentators keep saying, 'Isn't that the beauty of football?' I guess it is.
34 min
GOAL! Crystal Palace 1 Manchester City 0 (Murray 34') Ledley's flick-on is met by Dann (who looked offside), whose shot is saved by Hart, but it drops to Murray just yards out, and he gleefully taps home. How on earth are City behind here?!
33 min
Surely Palace can't hold out much longer? First Navas gets to the byline and whips in a low cross that Palace smuggle away, before Kompany's header is cleared as it heads towards the corner. Aguero then has a go but his left-footed effort flies over - City have had eight attempts to Palace's two this half.
30 min
Silva nearly puts City ahead but Speroni gets down low to beat away his shot one-handed. The phrase 'knocking at the door' is being bandied around with gay abandon by Alan Parry - City have 80% of the ball in the last five minutes.
26 min
Anything Puncheon can do, Bolasie can do better. The winger, not exactly known for his defensive graft, tracks back all the way to shepherd the ball out with Toure trying to get on the end of Silva's pass.
23 min
Puncheon does brilliantly to nip in from behind and tackle Toure with the Ivorian about to pull the trigger. Puncheon's put in a real shift so far, impressive stuff.
21 min
The shape of the game feels like we're in the closing stages of the second half - Palace really clinging on against the City onslaught.
19 min
Off the post! Aguero, in typical style, shifts the ball onto his right foot on the edge of the box and with no backlfit smashes one of the base of the post. Very unlucky.
15 min
Palace make a mess of clearing their lines after Silva claims a handball against Ledley, and the ball falls to Fernandinho on the edge of the box. The Brazilian's shot is a scuffer though and drifts wide. Warning signs for Palace...
12 min
Great chance for City! Hart hoofs the ball clear to Aguero, who rounds Speroni and tees up Silva about 12 yards out, but the Spaniard can only smash his shot at the keeper who atones for his error with a good save.
10 min
Silva starting to find little pockets of space between the lines, but he can't quite find the killer ball as yet. Palace don't want to keep giving him that sort of room though.
9 min
Is it possible to watch Palace and not have the 'CPFC' chant stuck in your head throughout?
8 min
Murray's throwing himself around here, and Kompany looks like he'll be in for a busy night. Palace playing some neat, passing football early on.
5 min
City seeing a bit more of the ball after a bright Palace opening, and Aguero tries to wriggle clear in the box, but eventually he's crowded out and the ball ricochets out for a goal kick.
3 min
Obligatory mention of the wonderful noise at Selhurst Park.
2 min
What a miss for Palace! Kelly puts in a brilliant low cross that Zaha meets at the far post, but he slices his effort high and wide. How has he missed?!
20.00
Kick-off! We're underway at Selhurst Park
19.59
A reminder of tonight's teams...
19.56
Aguero discusses his goal drought with a Palace fan.
19.51
Jamie Carragher thinks the key will be how well City can cope with Yannick Bolasie. Can Clichy deal with his threat? We're about to find out.
19.48
Glenn Murray has four goals in four games, and he starts up top for Palace today. Manager Pardew meanwhile says a win tonight will probably be enough to keep his side up, but his priority is making a statement to the league about how good his side is.
19.38
I wish Monday Night Football reverted to this intro:
19.25
Aguero's been unusually off colour recently, with no goals in his last five games. I have a sneaky feeling he'll end that drought tonight.
19.20
And for balance sake, here's some delightful Palace related statistical banter, also courtesy of our pals at Squawka: Joel Ward has won the most tackles in the Premier League over the past 2 seasons (168). Mile Jedinak is second (156).
19.17
Here's a wee look at Yaya Toure's decline this season compared to last...
19.13
Bolasie and Zaha have been in excellent form in recent weeks, and you'd expect Pardew to set his team up to get them running at Clichy and Sagna. Against Arsenal their tactic was more or less: get the ball to Zaha and let him take on Monreal. On that occasion Arsenal got away with it due to Zaha's wastefulness, but City won't want to take that chance tonight.
19.10
So, essentially what has happened is that Toure returns for City along with Sagna, Demichelis, Fernandinho & Dzeko, while Kelly replaces Souare for Crsytal Palace. A win for City takes them second tonight, while Palace can move up to 11th if they claim the three points.
19.00
Hello, and welcome - here are tonight's teams. No Bony and Jovetic in the City squad...
Palace: Speroni, Ward, Dann, Delaney Kelly, Ledley, McArthur, Zaha, Bolasie, Puncheon, Murray
Subs: Hennessey, Hangeland, Souare, Boateng, Sanogo, Gayle, Ameobi
City: Hart, Sagna, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy, Navas, Fernandinho, Toure, Silva, Dzeko, Aguero
Subs: Caballero, Zabaleta, Mangala, Milner, Fernando, Nasri, Lampard
13.00
Charlie Eccleshare will be here from 7pm to faciliate your enjoyment of Crystal Palace vs Manchester City in football's own Premier League. In the meantime, here's Manuel Pellegrini having a lovely pre-match whinge:
Manuel Pellegrini has demanded Manchester City sign more truly world-class, game-changing players in the summer as he looks for a convincing excuse for what looks destined to become a barren season.
City travel to Crystal Palace on Monday night trailing Premier League leaders Chelsea by nine points and Pellegrini may well pay the price for failing to win a trophy in his second season as manager by losing job.
That decision is yet to be taken and it should not be forgotten the Chilean won two – the Premier League and the Capital One Cup – in his first year.
Pellegrini has become increasingly terse when questioned about City’s stuttering season, but he conceded City needed to sign a different type of player in the summer if they were going to compete for top honours, both at home and abroad.
“It is just the way of thinking, that big teams need to sign a big player,” said Pellegrini. “It is very difficult to do it every year – but every two years you must do it.
“I’m not just talking about Manchester City. You see Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona and Bayern Munich – all the big clubs – all do it. It is important to have big names.
“I repeat, it is very difficult to do it every year, but it is important to do it after two years and you must try, always, to improve your squad. I’m talking about all big teams, not especially Manchester City.”
Not that Pellegrini will be willing to discuss transfer policy until he knows whether he is going to remain in charge of the team beyond the end of the season.
“I repeat, I don’t want to talk about [plans] for next season because we have to finish this season,” added Pellegrini.
“It is very important the way we finish this season before we analyse all the players. So, it is not the right moment to talk about it.”
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