Pep Guardiola praises Man City’s star after win against Crystal Palace

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has lavished praises on the club’s star of the moment, Kevin de Bruyne, following his brilliant performance in the 4-2 win against Crystal Palace.

The defending champions conquered the home team despite their sloppy display in the early minutes of the must-win Saturday encounter.

Kevin De Bruyne scored twice – including his 100th goal for Manchester City – to help the Premier League’s defending champions to a 4-2 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday which moved them level on points with leaders Liverpool.

Speaking to TNT on the outcome of the game, Pep Guardiola said, “In the first half we did mistakes but we made a comeback and Kevin de Bruyne won the game with his actions, his assists, his goals and everything. We won the game with him.

“I didn’t know that [De Bruyne] enjoyed scoring goals more than assists but I keep pushing him to say we have to win games. He has won many games for us, no doubt. It was really good for his performance.

“Manuel Akanji pushes a lot and is unbelievable playing at left-back. He is an incredible players. Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb were really good on that side in the first half. We wanted to score early in the second half and then we could close the game.

“[Lewis] is an exceptional player. He is really good in the pockets. He has a sense for goal. He is another academy player so that is really good for us.

“We will see which players we have available because Josko [Gvardiol] had a little problem. We will see. Next one. We were unlucky to play early on after Aston Villa but now lucky we have time to recover before Real Madrid. We will try to give them a good game.”