Premier League Round 13: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

The Ugly

Crystal Palace concedes a strange winner against Sunderland.

Here was the situation for Crystal Palace as they prepared for their match Monday night. Win this match and you will sit sixth in the table and just four points behind Arsenal for fourth place.

Consider the fact that they were playing Sunderland it seems pretty manageable, right?

Well, they messed it up. They messed it up badly.

The match was scoreless approaching the 80th minute when a seemingly harmless ball was played up the pitch into Sunderland’s attacking third.

At this point, the ball is about halfway between the semi circle outside of the box and the midfield circle. Crystal Palace defender Scott Dann then attempts to shield Jermaine Defoe from running onto the ball. It seems as though his thought process was that his goalkeeper, Wayne Hennessey, would run onto the ball and clear it downfield.

The problem was that the ball was a bit too far outside of the box for Hennessey to get there fast enough to clear the danger. Defoe recognizes this and is able to beat Dann’s shield as Hennessey slides in an attempt to get the ball, he fails, and Defoe is able to slot home an empty-net goal. (Skip ahead to seven seconds into the video below.)

Crystal Palace, in a moment of grand idiocy, squandered an opportunity to move into sixth place and now sit 10th, a mere three points ahead of Watford in 13th.

Manchester City

Where to begin here. Manchester City lost 4-1 at home to Liverpool.

On the surface you would find this result incredible. Look a bit deeper, though, and it is mildly surprising, if that.

David Silva and Vincent Kompany missed out due to injury, but Sergio Aguero came back to start for Manchester City.

The logical thought here, even though you have a tough midweek game against Juventus for first place in your Champions League group, is that you have to play your strongest lineup against Liverpool.

Consider that Silva and Kompany are out and it becomes even more baffling that Manuel Pellegrini would leave Nicolas Otamendi on the bench in favor of starting the much maligned Eliaquim Mangala and the ancient Martin Demichelis against a Liverpool side with dynamic forwards.

Whoscored.com lists Manchester City’s top five players in average match rating during the Premier League season as David Silva (8.04), Nicolas Otamendi (7.56), Vincent Kompany (7.39), Kevin De Bruyne (7.38) and Fernandinho (7.30).

Of those five players only Kevin De Bruyne started the match, while Fernandinho was subbed on after halftime when Manchester City were already down 3-1.

Demichelis’ rating this season is a putrid 6.32, while Fernando — Fernandinho’s replacement — is averaging a 6.84 rating. Mangala, who came in for Kompany, is averaging a 6.94.

The performance could not have been any worse for Manchester City and it cost them first place in the league as Leicester City and Manchester United both leaped above them. Manchester City are ahead of Arsenal on just goal difference and a mere two points ahead of Tottenham in fifth.

Horrible result for Manchester City, and to make it worse, they lost to Juventus in the midweek match they rested some of their important players for.