De Bruyne shines as Man City roar back to crush Palace 5-2

 Kevin de Bruyne helped Manchester City stage a superb comeback from 2-0 down as he scored one and helped create two goals in an emphatic 5-2 win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.

City ended 11th-placed Palace's eight-game unbeaten run in all competitions, as they climbed to fourth in the standings, two points ahead of Chelsea and Newcastle United who have played fewer matches.

Errors cost City as Palace scored twice in the first 21 minutes, with Eberechi Eze giving the visitors an eighth-minute lead through Ismaila Sarr's cross which evaded a sliding Josko Gvardiol to find the England winger.

Unmarked Eze struck the ball past out-of-position keeper Ederson to score his third league goal of the season.

Adam Wharton's inch-perfect corner led to Palace's second goal 13 minutes later, as Chris Richards nodded home from close range.

Eze found the net again in the 29th minute but the semi-automatic offside technology, which made its Premier League debut in this match, found him offside.

Palace's hopes proved to be short-lived, however, as City captain De Bruyne, who had hit the post earlier, stepped up to kickstart the hosts' comeback shortly after the half-hour mark.

With Daichi Kamada bringing down Nico Gonzalez 25 yards out, De Bruyne delivered a precise right-footed free kick that found the gap in the wall created by Ruben Dias and Gonzalez ducking.

Keeper Dean Henderson's dive to the right fell well short as De Bruyne, who is set to leave City in the summer, brought the fans at Etihad Stadium to their feet in the 33rd minute.

City equalised three minutes later when James McAtee's cross into the box reached De Bruyne, who tried to set up Gundogan for a close-range finish but the German mistimed his shot, and the ball reached Omar Marmoush who made no mistake.

The hosts continued their dominance, scoring 80 seconds into the second half with De Bruyne sending Nico O'Reilly's short cross from inside the box to an onrushing Mateo Kovacic who scored from the edge of the box.

Nine minutes later, City keeper Ederson's long ball surprised Palace defenders as McAtee beat their offside trap with a perfectly-timed run into the box, where he dribbled past Henderson to guide the ball into an empty net.

O'Reilly completed the rout with his first Premier League goal for City in the 79th minute, as Richards' attempt to clear McAtee's cross reached the 20-year-old whose shot took a deflection on its way into the net.

City, unbeaten in their last four league games, visit Everton next Saturday while Palace travel to Newcastle on Wednesday.