There was an early warning for the hosts when Brennan Johnson darted in behind, squaring for Jean-Philippe Mateta to fire at goal. Gianluigi Donnarumma reacted quickly to claw the ball away, although the striker’s call for the referee to check his watch for a signal from goal-line technology might have been interesting had the flag not belatedly gone up for offside from the initial pass.
No such flag came to the Cityzens’ rescue a little later on, and that responsibility fell to Josko Gvardiol instead, as he was in the right place to block Yeremy Pino’s effort behind.
As expected, Guardiola’s side dominated possession, but clear-cut chances proved hard to come by as the half wore on.
However, that changed just beyond the half-hour mark, when Phil Foden suddenly quickened the pace with a clever backheel, freeing Antoine Semenyo to fire past Dean Henderson.
That opened up the contest, and Man City added a second before half-time, with Omar Marmoush this time the beneficiary of another Foden assist.
The Eagles were hanging on by this point, and Henderson had to be at his best to stop Gvardiol making it three.
It was a similar story after the break, although Man City had little need to force the issue, and Oliver Glasner was the one to summon his heavy-hitting reinforcements.
While Erling Haaland stayed on the home bench for the full 90 minutes, Palace introduced Adam Wharton, Jorgen Strand Larsen, and Ismaila Sarr, and the latter wasted little time in testing Donnarumma.
Even so, the trio could not significantly alter the pattern of the game, and Savinho put the contest beyond all doubt in the 84th minute after a lovely assist from substitute Rayan Cherki.
Crystal Palace now have just one win from their last seven PL games, with attention having firmly turned to the UEFA Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano.
Man City’s next assignment is the FA Cup final against Chelsea, but half an eye will remain on the league, with this victory leaving them well-placed to capitalise on any slip-ups from the Gunners thanks to a superior goal difference.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Phil Foden (Manchester City)
