‘We missed him’ Alan Pardew pinpoints costly absentee in Palace home defeat

Manchester City match-winner, Kelechi Iheanacho, insists that the former champions will go all the way in the Premier League this season after his first goal for the club kept up their flawless start to the season.

The 18-year-old Nigerian, thrown on as a substitute moments earlier, announced himself to the Premier League in style with the strike which sank Crystal Palace 1-0.

High-flying Crystal Palace pushed league leaders Manchester City all the way on Saturday, with teenage sub Kelechi Iheanacho providing the match-winning goal for the Citizens late on.

Pellegrini, who plucked him from Nigeria previous year , said: “He is a very important player for us”.

Pellegrini was planning on making the substitution before since Bony had only been with the team just a few days, but he told him he was okay.

Palace were under pressure in the seventh minute when Samir Nasri broke through the defence to go one-on-one with McCarthy, but the keeper didn’t allow the Frenchman to beat him. “I think the referee had made an important mistake but that doesn’t matter, it’s just part of the game“. “Those two in particular are very, very important to us”. “He deserves that chance”.

The feud was revived in the 26th minute when Pardew was furious and entered Pellegrini’s technical area to protest about a challenge by Yaya Toure on James McArthur.

It’s first-place vs. second-place on Saturday when Manchester City heads to Selhurst Park to face off against Crystal Palace (Watch live, 10 a.m. ET on NBCSN and online via Live Extra).

A bad-tempered game threatened to flare up when Scott Dann brought down Aguero with a kick to the knee in the 17th minute and the City striker was forced to withdraw seven minutes later. “Maybe we are more consistent, a more solid team, more concentrating when we don’t have the ball“.

But Palace moved up to second on the back of their win at champions Chelsea a fortnight ago and Pardew, whose biggest summer outlay was £10million midfielder Yohan Cabaye, feels they have an even better chance of beating City’s all stars this time around.

“But I didn’t say anything and retreated back to my box as a good boy”. Last season is in the past and now we are thinking about the future.

Hangeland said that the manner of defeat made the loss particularly tough to take, but said that the side would take confidence from a gutsy display.