Pep Guardiola calls on Manchester City to play on their own terms

Pep Guardiola urged Manchester City to play on their own terms after they battled to a 3-0 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park to cut the gap to two points at the top of the Premier League.

An even game was settled by City’s superior finishing as Erling Haaland and Phil Foden took their chances in either half before Haaland added a late third from the penalty spot.

Guardiola’s side had to dig in for the win that ensured they kept up the pressure on leaders Arsenal and their energy was impressive to defeat Oliver Glasner’s high-flying side just days after Wednesday’s victory away against Real Madrid.

City have now won four in a row in the league and the manner in which they picked off Palace was hugely impressive.

“Always when you approach the game, whoever the opponent, on your terms, good things are going to happen,” said Guardiola. “There’s no sense to playing football without being who you are as an individual.

“Still we are not at the top, but we are learning. We will be closer in the future. After playing in the Bernabeu, then we prepared to play the FA Cup winners.”

City went ahead late in the first half, Matheus Nunes crossing over the head of Chris Richards to where Haaland was waiting to a nod the ball down into the ground and in.

Foden got the second with an excellent driven finish after Rayan Cherki’s run, before substitute Savinho won a penalty off Dean Henderson that Haaland readily dispatched.

“It’s behind a lot of work,” said Guardiola. “They (Palace) are so strong. Every time we play them it’s so difficult.

“Many things we have to improve. Madrid gave me a lot of things, that still we are not ready, not in mentality but in how to approach certain games. They are young some of the players. But 3-0 here is a big statement for us.

“When you win in the past, you believe the past was perfect, always brilliant, always the red carpet. When we won with 100 points, all the things we achieved, we had a lot of games like today. The resilience was part of that.

“There are moments that you struggle. Madrid was not the perfect game, but it was a step. We fought unbelievably to achieve that.

“We are in a better position than last season. We are close in the competitions we are in.”

Palace had a golden chance at 0-0 to take the lead when Yeremy Pino took a shot early and struck the bar, whilst Adam Wharton struck a post and Jean-Philippe Mateta failed to make contact with Ismaila Sarr’s inviting cross.

Glasner, whose team would have climbed into the top four with a win, reflected on his team’s wayward finishing.

“The result didn’t reflect the performance,” he said. “City were more efficient than we were, they took their chances and we missed them. That’s why we lost.

“We’re always talking about our progress. Many parts of our game were excellent. The whole team defended really well, we created three or four big chances.

“But if you want to win you have to take them in the right moments. This is what we’re missing to the top teams in the Premier League.”