London: David Silva filled in for Manchester City’s absent strikers as the champions beat Crystal Palace 3-0 on Saturday to move level on points with Premier League leaders Chelsea.
City were missing Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic due to injury, but they secured an eighth consecutive victory in all competitions thanks to Silva’s second-half brace and a late Yaya Toure strike.
Victory left City level on 39 points with Chelsea, who remain top by virtue of a superior goal difference (+23 to +22) ahead of their trip to Stoke City on Monday.
“It was a very good win. A very good performance. I enjoyed the way the team worked the whole week — to work in a different way without strikers,” said City manager Manuel Pellegrini.
Faced with an injury glut in the attacking department, Pellegrini deployed England midfielder James Milner as an auxiliary striker at the Etihad Stadium.City goalkeeper Joe Hart signed a new five-year contract on Friday and he was quickly called into action, producing a sharp point-blank save to repel Mile Jedinak’s header.
Yannick Bolasie then set up Fraizer Campbell to lash a close-range overhead kick narrowly wide of Hart’s goal, but gradually City began to pick their way through Palace’s defences.
Toure shot over twice, Samir Nasri teed up Silva to prod wide, and Pablo Zabaleta scooped a shot just off target from Toure’s piercing through-ball.
