• Man City came from behind to beat Crystal Palace 5-2 on Saturday
  • Kevin De Bruyne inspired impressive turnaround against the Eagles
  • Victory moves Cityzens into fourth for time being

Manchester City moved to fourth in the Premier League after they came from two goals behind to beat Crystal Palace 5-2 on Saturday.

The Premier League was utilising semi-automated offside technology for the first time and it was employed readily throughout a thrilling first half at the Etihad Stadium. Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards offered Palace a two-goal lead - the former seeing a third narrowly ruled out for offside - before Kevin De Bruyne and Omar Marmoush efforts brought City level.

But City were utterly ruthless during a one-sided second half as Mateo Kovacic, James McAtee and Nico O'Reilly all added their names to the scoresheet in a result that edged Pep Guardiola's side closer to Champions League qualification.

How the game unfolded

City made a positive start to a must-win fixture at the Etihad but the defensive deficiencies that have exposed them all season were on full show as Palace raced into an early two-goal lead. Ismaila Sarr beat the offside trap and teed up Eze for a simple finish within eight minutes and Richards soon doubled the advantage.

The American defender, who could have conceded a penalty at the other end less than ten minutes earlier, capitalised on some indecisive goalkeeping from Ederson at a corner to head Palace into dreamland.

Things almost got so much worse for the ruffled hosts as Eze's expert touch and finish was ruled out for offside after Sarr had blasted over from close range, but the Cityzens took full advantage of their good fortune with a remarkable first-half comeback.

De Bruyne, who had already cracked the post as City sought to reduce the deficit, fired an exquisite free kick beyond Dean Henderson, before proving instrumental in the build-up to Marmoush's close-range equaliser just three minutes later.

The momentum was clearly in City's favour after the restart and it took them just two minutes to complete the turnaround. De Bruyne was once again involved after he fed Nico O'Reilly's cutback into the path of Kovacic, who in turn rattled a venomous strike into the bottom corner.

The resurgent Cityzens appeared intent on putting Palace to the sword in the second half and within ten minutes of half-time they boasted a two-goal buffer. Ederson earned redemption for some iffy goalkeeping in the first half by picking out McAtee with a stunning 60-yard pass and the youngster rounded Henderson before rolling into an empty net, although the City stopper looked to have injured himself doing so and was soon forced off the field.

O'Reilly's attacking display caught the eye at the Etihad and the youngster scored his first Premier League goal ten minutes from time, with his deflected strike putting the icing on the cake for the Cityzens