Check out the best facts and Opta data with our Crystal Palace vs Man City stats page as Pep Guardiola’s side cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League to two points.
Following Arsenal’s last-gasp winner at home to Wolves on Saturday night, Manchester City’s trip to Selhurst Park on Sunday felt like it could become pivotal.
With the gap at the top of the Premier League stretched back to five points, the pressure was on City to win this one, but Crystal Palace are a formidable unit, and the game looked very much like a potential banana skin for the visitors. Given City haven’t been their imperious best consistently this season, there was good reason to believe this would be no walk in the park.
And to begin with, Palace were the better of the teams. They threatened with vertical play and transitions that consistently troubled City’s backline. First, Adam Wharton sent Yeremy Pino through on goal with a smart ball over the top but the Spaniard, with all the time in the world, could only clip the top of Gianluigi Donnarumma’s crossbar.
Not long after, Ismaïla Sarr raced forward down the right but could not produce an effort to trouble the City goalkeeper.
City, meanwhile, failed to register a single shot in the opening 25 minutes of a Premier League match for the first time since December 2024 (v Liverpool). Phil Foden eventually had their first shot on 29 minutes.
It took another 12 for them to have another effort, but it fell to the irrepressible Erling Haaland, and he headed Matheus Nunes’ cross effortlessly into the corner of the net. There were 25 passes in the build-up to the goal, the most for a Manchester City goal in the Premier League since Rodri vs West Ham in May 2024 (31).
ERling haaland goal vs crystal palace
There was no denying that City were fortunate to go in a goal up at the break. They managed just four touches in the opposition box in the first half, only having fewer in three Premier League matches under Guardiola (three vs Arsenal in September 2025, three vs Manchester United in March 2020, and three vs Liverpool in December 2016).
Palace fought to try and find a way back into the game and created plenty more, but were made to pay for failing to take advantage when Foden struck a second for City from the edge of the box. It was his seventh goal involvement (six goals, one assist) in his last four Premier League games, while it was his eighth goal from outside the box since the beginning of 2023-24. Only Kylian Mbappé (14) has scored more in Europe’s big five leagues in that time.
Late on, Haaland added a third from the spot after Savinho had been fouled by Dean Henderson to take his tally for the season to 17 to complete a resounding-looking scoreline. The stats, however, which showed Palace won the xG battle and had 16 shots to City’s seven, suggested the game’s winners may have been a little fortunate.
This wasn’t City back at their very best, but this was about as efficient a performance as Guardiola could have asked for. They remain hot on Arsenal’s tails in the Premier League title race.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Crystal Palace vs Man City stats from their Premier League meeting at Selhurst Park.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Crystal Palace vs Man City: Post-Match Facts
Manchester City are now unbeaten in their last 11 trips to Selhurst Park in the Premier League, winning eight of those (D3), and keeping five clean sheets in their last seven.
Manchester City’s Erling Haaland has now scored 2+ goals in 26 different Premier League matches, moving level in joint 10th with Cristiano Ronaldo.
There were 25 passes in the build-up to Erling Haaland’s opening goal, the most for a Manchester City goal in the Premier League since Rodri v West Ham in May 2024 (31).
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