London, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Crystal Palace survived a late push from Manchester City at Selhurst Park on Monday to claim a 2-1 victory over the reigning Premier League champions.
Palace spurned a tremendous opportunity to take the lead inside the opening two minutes when Martin Kelly played a superb low cross in front of goal, but an unmarked Wilfried Zaha failed to convert the chance at the back post.
It looked as though Alan Pardew's men would rue that miss as City bossed play for the following 30 minutes, but the hosts went in front against the run of play in the 34th minute.
The Citizens cleared their lines following a corner kick, but the ball was recycled back into the mix immediately as Joe Ledley flicked an aerial pass into the path of Scott Dann. Joe Hart denied Dann's attempt at goal, but the rebound fell kindly to Glenn Murray who was arriving to stuff home his fifth goal in as many games.
Manchester City's woes continued in the early part of the second half as Palace doubled the advantage through Jason Puncheon's brilliant free kick into the bottom corner in the 48th minute.
City lodged an attempt at a comeback in the 78th minute when Yaya Toure pounced on a failed clearance and uncorked a sublime left-footed effort into the side-netting that left Julian Speroni with no chance.
The visitors continued to push in search of an equalizer, but Palace staved off the pressure to collect three points and improve to 39 points on the season.
City remains 61 points, one point behind third-place Manchester United ahead of Sunday's derby at Old Trafford.
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