Arsenal and Manchester United looked good at Easter.
Chelsea and Man City not so good.
Chelsea beat Stoke 2-1 but lost Diego Costa to that hamstring again.
Sub Remy scored again but Drogba embarrassed himself, as did another other old Ivorian warrior, Kolo Toure, against Arsenal.
We love an underdog in England and that’s why the Crystal Palace game was so much fun last night.
Manchester City were so skilful that they had 74% possession at Selhurst Park but lost 2-1.
Alan Pardew has now won 7 of his 12 games and drawn 2. That’s some rescue act.
I’m a Wilfried Bony fan and thought Bony might quickly become an important goalscorer for City, who signed him from Swansea in January.
Bony wasn’t on the bench and it took an hour for the commentator to tell me that Bony had been injured in training.
Palace are a very competitive high-tempo outfit who win a lot of 50-50 balls.
City knew this, so they were more focused than I’ve seen them lately and playing well.
David Silva was phenomenal and it was his shot in 12 minutes that flew wide off keeper Julian Speroni’s shoulder. That ball could easily have ricocheted into the net and made it a different game.
Aguero’s shot hit the base of the post in 19.
“City are really at it tonight,” I thought.
But Palace are very good at flick-on football and that’s how the first goal came in 34.
After a corner was cleared, Joe Ledley’s knockdown was hit by Scott Dann against the leg of Joe Hart and the ball broke nicely for Scott Murray to tap in at the far post.
1-0 to Palace in 34.
Second half, Fernandinho conceded a free-kick on the edge of the box and Jason Puncheon lined up a left-footed free-kick and whipped the ball very flat over the jumping wall and low into the opposite corner.
WHAT A GOAL!
Palace 2 Man City 0 in 48
Palace had been riding their luck, especially when a deflected shot hit Murray’s hand in the box.
Ref Michael Oliver didn’t see it.
Nasri for Navas soon threatened to change the game.
His wicked low cross into the goalmouth was cleared to Yaya Toure, who smashed a thunderous left-foot shot into the far corner in 78.
After that, Palace just managed to hang on for the three points.
Man City’s next game is at Old Trafford, where United have started to play much better.
And Arsenal, motoring now, suddenly look strong enough to finish second.