Crystal Palace ace was even better than Lacroix

Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace managed to grab a point against the struggling Manchester City at Selhurst Park in a thrilling 2-2 draw.

Palace took an early lead, with Daniel Munoz opening the scoring just four minutes in, before Erling Haaland struck back in the 30th minute, making it 1-1 going into half-time.

But it was the Eagles who came out the gates faster again in the second half, making it 2-1 in the 56th minute, with summer signing, Maxence Lacroix, nodding it home from a corner.

But an eventful end to the game for Rico Lewis saw him score an equaliser in the 68th minute, before being sent off in the 84th minute, with the game ending 2-2, and the points behind shared.

Maxence Lacroix’s performance in numbers

Scorer of the Eagles’ second goal, Lacroix put in an excellent display on Saturday afternoon.

He left the field having completed 24/29 passes (83% completion), making five out of seven long balls, winning all three of his ground duels (100%), and making two tackles.

Since joining this summer for a fee of around £18m, Lacroix has made 14 appearances, scoring one goal, providing one assist, contributing to three clean sheets, and totalling 1,260 minutes played.

But the 24-year-old wasn’t the top performer for Palace, as another Eagles star had a brilliant display in central midfield, providing the assist for both their goals.

Will Hughes’ performance in numbers

Will Hughes was awarded an 8.8/10 match rating by 90min, after his superb display against Manchester City at Selhurst Park.

The 29-year-old midfielder has made 16 appearances in all competitions this campaign, providing two assists, and totaling 979 minutes.

Both of Hughes’ assists came against Manchester City, as he set up the home side’s goals in their 2-2 draw, playing a huge role both on and off the ball for Glasner’s side.

Alongside his two assists, Hughes made three key passes, looking to release his side on the break at every opportunity, exploiting the open nature of Manchester City in transition, something they have struggled with immensely this season.

But as well as providing that creation from central midfield, Hughes also put in a top defensive shift, in order to disrupt the Manchester City build-up flow, winning four out of his five ground duels, making three tackles, and one interception.

In recent weeks, Palace have looked very much like they’re missing Adam Wharton in midfield, but the performance of Hughes, alongside Jefferson Lerma in midfield, was exactly what was needed against last campaign’s champions, as the pair provided a lovely blend of quality on-ball and off-ball work rate

With Brighton and Arsenal coming up for the Eagles in their next two Premier League fixtures, Glasner will need to get the same tune out of Hughes, alongside the rest of his side, if they are to dig in and get results in those games, as they look to stay out of the relegation zone through the festive period.