Guardiola Praises Manchester City's Resilience After Victory Over Crystal Palace
Manchester City extended their winning run to five matches with a 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, closing the gap to two points behind Arsenal in the Premier League title race. Erling Haaland opened the scoring with a header, followed by Phil Foden's goal, and Haaland secured the win by converting a late penalty, marking his 17th Premier League goal of the season.
Manager Pep Guardiola praised the leadership and defensive cohesion of Ruben Dias and the backline, emphasizing that resilience has been a key driver of the team's recent improvement. City had suffered defeats to Newcastle and Bayer Leverkusen at the end of November but have since bounced back strongly with five consecutive wins. This victory followed City’s Champions League triumph over Real Madrid earlier in the week and is part of their effort to build momentum after last May's FA Cup final loss to Palace.
Guardiola highlighted the importance of learning to win hard-fought matches as part of building sustained success, referencing previous seasons with high points totals as examples. Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner acknowledged City's superiority in the penalty areas and their greater efficiency, urging his team to adopt a more ruthless approach against top teams. Glasner also felt the final scoreline did not fully reflect Palace’s performance during the match.
