Manchester City rubber-stamped the authenticity of their multiple title challenges this season, as his depleted side demolished fellow Premier League club Crystal Palace, in their Capital One Cup Round of 16 tie.
The biggest story of Wednesday night was that of 19-year-old Manchester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho, who scored one goal, and set two more up for his teammates, in the 5-1 rout. City manager Manuel Pellegrini was all praises for his young Nigerian striker, after the match, as he believes that it is good for the side that he is playing well, when their main striker Sergio Aguero is injured.
“It was very important for Kelechi to demonstrate once again that he’s a very good player,” Pellegrini was quoted as saying by ESPN. “He’s not just a striker — he provided two assists. I’m very happy for him. He has things to improve but he’s working in the correct way.”
The Chilean manager also praised Iheanacho’s strike-partner for the night — Wilfried Bony. He said, “They can play both together as they did tonight. Bony played well tonight. Of course Kelechi was very impressive but Wilfried also knows he has all my trust and his teammates’ trust.”
Pardew apologises to Crystal Palace fans for defeat
It was a rather humiliating defeat for Crystal Palace on Wednesday night, especially after they almost matched City stride for stride, only to lose out to an injury-time winner by Iheanacho, earlier in the season.
“It was not so much an apology, but a thank you. We need to make sure we keep our fans with us,” said Pardew. “I know some of the fans had trouble getting here, so we’d like to say thank you and I hope we can repay them later in the season.
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“It was a disappointing display, more offensively than defensively. We kept turning the ball over.
“Almost every time City had a chance they punished us, particularly in the first 60 minutes and that was very much the story.”
Crystal Palace has a difficult run of fixtures ahead of them, as they welcome Manchester United in the Premier League, on Saturday, with a visit to Liverpool FC scheduled for a week later. However, the Liverpool FC match would conclude, what could be described as the most difficult part of their season, when they were drawn against top sides like West Ham United, Leicester City, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Liverpool FC, in the space of one month. However, once this stretch of matches is over, they would have some easier games, starting with a clash against 18th-placed Sunderland.