#2 Crystal Palace defence dismantled
Injuries to Mamadou Sakho, Scott Dann and James Tomkins left Sam Allardyce short of defensive options, but it was still a surprise when the former England boss opted to leave natural centre-half Damien Delaney on the bench.
Palace began the encounter in a 3-5-2 formation, with Andros Townsend at right-wing back, Patrick van Aanholt on the left, and Joel Ward, Martin Kelly and Jeffrey Schlupp in the middle; it was, in effect, a back five made up of three full-backs and two wingers.
Unsurprisingly, it did not work, with Palace pulled apart on several occasions in the opening exchanges. That prompted Allardyce to push Townsend upfield and switch to a 4-3-3 after just 12 minutes, but even the relative familiarity of that system proved unable to stem the tide of City’s constant attacks.
The hosts outclassed their relegation-threatened opponents, but many of the goals they scored were poor from a Palace perspective.
Townsend did not track Sterling for the first, while Kelly’s aforementioned header put the ball on a plate for Silva; Kompany was in acres of space for the second; Wayne Hennessey should have kept out De Bruyne’s effort shortly before the hour; Van Aanholt lost Sterling for the fourth; and almost the entire team failed to prevent Otamendi adding the cherry to the icing on the cake in stoppage time.
