Crystal Palace’s tried and tested formula leaves Manchester City frustrated once again

Manchester City 2-2 Crystal Palace: Sergio Aguero’s late brace wasn’t enough to save his side from another upset at the hands of Roy Hodgson’s Eagles

Crystal Palace celebrate after equalising late on at the Etihad Stadium (Getty)

Another game, another milestone. Sergio Aguero can chalk them up by the week and, six days after he became the most prolific foreign goalscorer in Premier League history, he became the first player to score 250 goals for Manchester City. In the process, he moved past Frank Lampard to take third place in the division’s all-time leaderboard on 179 – five of which have come in the last two games.

And yet the sting in the tale, courtesy of Wilfried Zaha, meant this was City’s season in microcosm: exhilaration and frustration. Two more points slipped from their grasp, courtesy of Fernandinho’s last-minute own goal. Results like this ease Liverpool’s passage to the title.

City, ultimately, were wasteful, contriving to leave themselves three against three at the back when they had transformed a deficit into an advantage, allowing Zaha to surge forward and centre in such a way that the luckless Fernandinho beat Ederson.

Aguero was the exception to the rule, the one man in blue with a clinical streak. With Crystal Palace defending deep, protecting the lead after Cenk Tosun’s opener, Aguero had been on the fringes of the game.

But Pep Guardiola gave him company in attack by introducing Gabriel Jesus, and Aguero illustrated the art of the penalty-box poacher. First he met the Brazilian’s centre with a far-post volley. Then when the excellent Benjamin Mendy centred, Aguero met it with a precise downward header.

That should have been that but Zaha, the scourge of City last season, had other ideas. Palace, who had won at Old Trafford in August, could not quite complete a rare Mancunian double but they had much to savour. Roy Hodgson was not at his most diplomatic on Friday when he suggested he would not try to learn from Guardiola. In his defence, the Palace manager said that, at his stage of his career, he was not particularly interested in copying anyone. But perhaps Hodgson had a point before he got one. On the day Guardiola turned 49, Hodgson did things his way.

His methods are scarcely reminiscent of Guardiola, with players camped behind the ball. But counter-attacking speed and defensive discipline amounted to a fearsome combination for Palace last year and they exploited City’s set-piece failings. Tosun marked his first start of his loan spell from Everton with a maiden goal, supplying the far-post finish when Gary Cahill headed James McCarthy’s corner back to the far post.

If a shortage of goals from the specialist strikers has been a theme of Hodgson’s reign, his first January signing suggested he may rectify that. He could have had a hat-trick. When Ederson surged unwisely out of his box, Tosun touched the ball past him, only to foul Fernandinho. A second shot was saved by the goalkeeper.

City, too, could reflect on what might have been. Kevin de Bruyne struck the underside of the bar with a superlative free kick. They were first awarded a penalty and then the decision was revoked, in the sort of scenario that seemed unimaginable when Hodgson began his managerial career. Joao Cancelo’s cross hit Jairo Riedewald, the ball flying up on to his hand via his left foot. Referee Graham Scott pointed to the spot, VAR overruled him. Instead Aguero and Zaha then turned the game one way and then the other. A draw, however, represented a triumph for Palace.