As many as seven goals were scored in the first leg of the 32nd round of the English Premier League, and Manchester City's players defeated Crystal Palace 5-2 at the Etihad after the visitors led 2-0.
With this victory, Manchester City jumped to fourth place in the standings, while Crystal Palace remained in 11th position.
The match could not have started worse for Manchester City as the visitors led 2-0 by the 21st minute. Eze scored in the eighth minute to make it 1-0, while Richards made it 2-0 in the 21st. In the 29th minute, Crystal Palace had a three-goal lead, but fortunately for the hosts, that goal was disallowed for offside.
Manchester City managed to come back from a deficit by the break. First, De Bruyne scored from a free kick to make it 1-2 in the 33rd minute, while just three minutes later Marmoush equalized to make it 2-2. A complete turnaround came at the very start of the second half. In the 47th minute, after an assist from De Bruyne, Mateo Kovačić scored from the top of the penalty area to make it 3-2. It was the Croatian international's fifth league goal and City's sixth overall this season.
Very soon after that, the home team took a 4-2 lead, after a goal by McAtee and an assist from goalkeeper Ederson, while in the 79th minute everything was concluded with a goal by O'Reilly for the final 5-2. For Manchester City, Kovačić played until the 88th minute, and Joško Gvardiol played the entire match.
Sunday's matches of this round are Chelsea - Ipswich, Liverpool - West Ham, Wolverhampton - Tottenham and Newcastle - Manchester United, while the last match of the 32nd round will be played on Monday between Bournemouth and Fulham.
Premier League, Round 32:
Manchester City - Crystal Palace 5-2 (De Bruyne 33, Marmoush 36, Kovačić 47, McAtee 56, O'Reilly 79 / Eze 8, Richards 21)
Brighton - Leicester (16pm)
Nottingham Forest - Everton (16 p.m.)
Southampton - Aston Villa (16 p.m.)
Arsenal - Brentford (6:30 p.m.)
Scale: 1. Liverpool 31 21 7 2 72-30 73 2. Arsenal 31 17 11 3 56-26 62 3. Nottingham Forest 31 17 6 8 51-37 57 4. Manchester City 32 16 7 9 62-42 55 5. Chelsea 31 15 8 8 54-37 53 6. Newcastle 30 16 5 9 52-39 53 7. Aston Villa 31 14 9 8 46-46 51 8. Fulham 31 13 9 9 47-42 48 9. Brighton 31 12 11 8 49-47 47 10. Bournemouth 31 12 9 10 51-40 45 11. Crystal Palace 31 11 10 10 41-40 43 12. Brentford 31 12 6 13 51-47 42 13. Manchester United 31 10 8 13 37-41 38 14. Tottenham 31 11 4 16 58-45 37 15. Everton 31 7 14 10 33-38 35 16. West Ham 31 9 8 14 35-52 35 17. Wolverhampton 31 9 5 17 43-59 32 18. Ipswich 31 4 8 19 31-65 20 19. Leicester 31 4 5 22 25-70 17 20. Southampton 31 2 4 25 23-74 10
Photo: EPA/ADAM VAUGHAN
