Man City vs Palace player ratings: Six stars battle as Rico Lewis snatches draw

If Manchester City thought they had turned a corner with their midweek dismantling of Nottingham Forest, it was almost a return to the first step for Pep Guardiola's side against Crystal Palace. Rico Lewis bailed out several underperforming stars as City came from behind twice against a resilient Palace.

Palace winger Daniel Munoz scored the first goal inside five minutes, courtesy of Stefan Ortega. Erling Haaland's looping header brought City back into the game, but they struggled to use momentum and take control at Selhurst Park.

Maxence Lacroix pushed Palace back in front before a rare moment of quality from City found Lewis in space, whose effort flew past Dean Henderson. The City teenager was then sent off for a second yellow card, which angered Guardiola and his team.

On another difficult afternoon for City's stars, six of them were rated five out of 10 or less. Express Sport evaluations.

Stefan Ortega – 4

Allowed Munoz's first drive to squirm through his hands. Never really looked comfortable and Ederson could return to the lineup for the Champions League clash with Juventus.

Rico Lewis – 6

Lewis was well in possession of the ball when he entered midfield and was ultimately the player who pulled City out of a hole with an equalizer to make it 2-2. It was a great finish after a clever free-kick drill. But in a mixed day for the defender, he was sent off late on after picking up a second yellow card.

Kyle Walker – 4

City were extremely poor defensively and it seems obvious that Walker would not start if Guardiola had a full squad to choose from. He struggled to keep up with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eberechi Eze.

Ruben Dias – 5

Mateta had the better of Dias throughout, easily holding off the Portuguese defender to help Palace get up the pitch.

Josko Gvardiol – 6

Gvardiol was one of City's best players on a difficult afternoon. Many of their most promising attacks started with the Croatian.

Ilkay Gundogan – 5

German midfielder Gundogan is a shadow of the player who left City as a treble-winning captain. He hit the post with a magnificent first-half effort, but he embodied City's inability to be robust in midfield. Will Hughes and Jefferson Lerma won the midfield battle.

Bernardo Silva – 6

Silva grabbed the assist for Lewis' equalizer, a rare moment of quality from City's midfielders.

Kevin De Bruyne – 5

He's by no means the worst player on the pitch, but City needed their best player to step up. Still seemingly battling a long-term fitness problem, De Bruyne was in and out of a tough test at Selhurst Park.

Mathéus Nunes – 6

Nunes provided an excellent cross for Haaland to head home and many of City's most positive moments involved the former Wolves man. His work out of possession was less enjoyable to watch.

Savinho – 5

Savinho played 79 minutes and probably should have been taken off much earlier. The Brazilian continued to drift into an already crowded central area and had to stay out.

Erling Haaland – 4

When City don't win, scoring won't be enough for Haaland to be absolved of criticism. The Norwegian has difficulty pressing and rarely participates in the game until the last third. His touches were loose and, apart from beating Marc Guehi in the air to score, Palace's back three found him too easy to tackle.

City were better with the ball the season before Haaland's arrival, when Guardiola won the Premier League without a recognized centre-forward.

Substitutes

Jérémy Doku – 6

Doku was brilliant when he replaced Savinho 20 minutes from time, but he didn't do enough to swing the game in City's favour.

Jack Grealish – N/A

Grealish replaced De Bruyne five minutes from time and had little time to make an impact, particularly with City down to 10 men.