"Yaya Toure" inspired city to a dramatic 2-1 victory over struggling Palace on his return to the team
Yaya Toure celebrates scoring Man City's second goal
Yaya Toure marked his return
to Manchester City's starting line-up by scoring twice in Pep Guardiola's
side's 2-1 victory at Crystal Palace.
Making his first Premier
League start of the season, Toure opened the scoring in the 39th minute after
his shot deflected off James Tomkins and into the top corner.
Palace hit back in the
second-half through substitute Connor WIckham (66) but City, who lost captain
Vincent Kompany in the first half, after he was involved in a nasty
looking collision with goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, regained the lead with just
seven minutes remaining.
And
it was Toure who grabbed the winner, tapping home from close range to send
his side level on points with Liverpool at the top of the table after Jurgen
Klopp's side's 0-0 draw at Southampton.
Defeat leaves Crystal
Palace, who are on a run of five straight league defeats, down in 16th position.
Guardiola made six changes
to his starting line-up from the 1-1 draw at home to Middlesbrough and he
handed Toure, who made his only previous first-team appearance under the
Spaniard in their 1-0 Champions League defeat of Steaua Bucharest on August 24,
a surprise call-up following the midfielder's recent apology for
"misunderstandings of the past".
Kompany also returned to
City's starting line-up but his bad luck continued as he lasted only 38 minutes
after being clattered by Bravo as the goalkeeper came out to claim the ball.
Alan Pardew, who had injury
problems of his own, also made two changes with goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey
recalled in place of the injured Steve Mandanda, while James Tomkins replaced
Damien Delaney.
But it was City who took the
lead in the 39th minute when Martin Kelly lost possession deep in his own half.
Toure picked up the
ball on the edge of the penalty area and played a one-two with Nolito before
shooting powerfully beyond Hennessey with the help of a deflection off Tomkins.
Pardew responded at
half-time by replacing Andros Townsend with Wickham and it lifted the home side
as Christian Benteke's header forced Bravo into a smart save.
As the hosts pressed for an
equaliser, City almost doubled their lead in the 65th minute through Sergio
Aguero but first Hennessey took the sting out of the shot before Joel Ward
hooked the ball off the line.
A minute later Wilfried Zaha
found Wickham in space and his touch took him past substitute Zabaleta into the
area and he powerfully shot under Bravo.
Palace were heading towards
a point but were denied in the 83rd minute when they left Toure unmarked
on the edge of the six-yard box.
The Ivorian latched onto
Kevin De Bruyne's low corner and he calmly finished to complete a remarkable
return from his City exile.
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