Pep Guardiola hails 'outstanding' Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki's 'special' quality after Manchester City beat Crystal Palace

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Manchester City maintained their pursuit of Premier League leaders Arsenal with a 3-0 victory at Crystal Palace on Sunday. The division's top scorer, Erling Haaland, was inevitably on the scoresheet again, while Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden both impressed at Selhurst Park. Pep Guardiola gave his assessment of City's performance at a "tough place to come".

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Pep Guardiola heaped praise on Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki after Manchester City's impressive 3-0 win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

City moved back to within two points of leaders Arsenal thanks to a brace from top scorer Haaland and a Phil Foden strike.

And manager Guardiola lauded Haaland for more than just his goalscoring, before singling out Cherki, who skilfully set up Foden's second-half goal.

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"Erling is a forward to score the goals, but in the second half he keeps the ball," the City boss told Sky Sports. "He was able to contain situations. He helped us be together. In the second half, he was outstanding.

"In the first half, we were too much in a rush. We talked about the spaces we should attack, but we were not patient enough. After, we played with the tempo we should.

"Rayan, with his quality in the final third, has special vision."

On victory over Palace, in strong form and flying high under Oliver Glasner, Guardiola said: "It is a really tough place to come. When you lose the ball, they attack incredibly well, but we were patient.

"We were lucky when they hit the post from [Adam] Wharton, but really pleased for the performance and victory to grow our mentality."

Goalscorer Foden, who now has seven goals in 14 Premier League appearances this season, echoed Guardiola's sentiments.

"It's a really difficult game," he said. "We know what they are about. They make it tricky, set up well and have quality players on the break.

"The first half we were just trying to figure them out. Second half, we started to hurt them more and in the end, we killed the game off.

"The most important thing is patience. I think we maybe tried to attack too quickly. In the second half, we did a lot better. That was the key for getting the result today. We had more control and more passes - that is the City way. It is a full team performance.

"Really happy. I have been in great form in the Premier League recently and I'm delighted to keep that going."

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Palace boss Glasner, meanwhile, said his side would "take lessons" from their second home defeat of the season.

"It feels a little bit wrong [the result] but we have to accept it," he told BBC Match of the Day. "This is how big games are decided. It was small margins.

"I think City were better in the boxes. We had 16 shots and losing 3-0 is a tough moment. We will take our lessons from this game. We need these games to grow and develop and progress.

"We had three or four big chances and we tried to get our goal and get back into the game. It felt like if we got it something could happen.

"Great cross, great movement and great header, that is why it is Haaland and why he scores 40 goals a season. The performance today was better than the FA Cup final, but we had the efficiency and City missed it."

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