A late strike from Kelechi Iheanacho saw Manchester City record a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace in Saturday's Premier League clash at Selhurst Park.
In an entertaining game laden with chances but seemingly destined to end as a stalemate, the 18-year-old Nigerian pounced on Samir Nasri's saved effort to rifle home in the 90th minute.
Sergio Aguero and Jason Puncheon had to be substituted after finding themselves on the receiving end of strong tackles, while Kevin De Bruyne impressed on his first game in a Citizens shirt.
Here's how the action unfolded with Sports Mole's live text commentary.
Hello folks and welcome to Sports Mole's live match coverage of the Premier League clash between Crystal Palace and Manchester City!
Who'd have thought that this would have become a top of the table clash just a few weeks ago? Man City were obviously going to be up there or thereabouts, but what a barnstorming start from Palace, who have won three out of four - including against last season's champions by a long way, Chelsea - to sit just behind the Citizens in second!
Team news filtering through at Selhurst Park...
PALACE STARTING XI: McCarthy, Kelly, Dann (C), Hangeland, Souare, McArthur, Cabaye, Zaha, Puncheon, Sako, Bolasie
PALACE SUBS: Hennessey, Mariappa, Jedinak, Mutch, Lee, Campbell, Gayle
MAN CITY STARTING XI: Hart, Sagna, Kompany (C), Mangala, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Toure, Nasri, Navas, Bony, Aguero
MAN CITY SUBS: Caballero, Demichelis, Otamendi, Garcia, Roberts, Iheanacho, De Bruyne
So three changes for the hosts today as Joel Ward, Damien Delaney and Connor Wickham come out of the squad outright and are replaced by Martin Kelly, Brede Hangeland and Yannick Bolasie.
Meanwhile the most interesting thing about City's lineup is that Kevin De Bruyne is not in it - the £55m man is on the bench for Pellegrini's side. David Silva is out with an ankle injury while, according to the visitors' Twitter, Raheem Sterling "has a small problem and has been left out of the squad as a precautionary measure". Those two are replaced by Samir Nasri and Wilfried Bony.
There will be positive vibes among both sets of fans here today - the Eagles are flying high in the Premier League table, while City have laid waste to all before them to sit top of the table with a hundred percent record.
Bakary Sako, who starts against the table-toppers today, had this to say ahead of the game: "We know it will be tough today because Man City are one of the best teams in the Premier League, but we will try our best to win. We're going to have to play on the counter-attack a bit, because they'll have the ball and try to keep it."
Given the fact that only Arsenal have taken points off Crystal Palace so far this season, it could be said that Alan Pardew looks on course to build on the solid foundations he laid in the second half of last season.
The Londoners negotiated a tricky visit to newly-promoted Norwich City on the first day of the campaign, emerging with a 3-1 win, before a 2-1 defeat to the Gunners eight days later at Selhurst Park stunted them ever so slightly.
That would prove a minor blip as Sako marked his debut with a late winner in the 2-1 victory over Aston Villa, with the ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers man scoring again as Palace defied the odds by beating Chelsea by the same scoreline to see them edge into the top two ahead of the international break.
Lest we forget, the Eagles recorded a 2-1 win over Manchester City just last April - a result that effectively hammered home the final nail in the coffin of the Citizens' Premier League title chances last season. So with all this into account, the 2013-14 champions should watch out.
City are a completely different proposition this time round, however. The stats speak for themselves - four games, four wins, ten scored, zero conceded.
If ever you could label something as "a perfect start", Pellegrini's side would have nailed it. Everything has clicked into place this season for them, so it will be interesting to see how they get on against a team that seems to have got into the habit of claiming giants' scalps.
Interestingly for City, who have received criticism in recent years for seemingly neglecting their home-grown players and their youth, their bench includes three names that few outside the Etihad circuit would know.
So we have Kelechi Iheanacho, a Nigerian striker who has already featured on the bench twice and came on in the last minute for Sterling in his side's clash against Watford; Patrick Roberts, a forward with five goals in eight games for England Under-19s; and Manuel Garcia, an attacking midfielder from Spain. The first two are 18, while the latter is just 17.
Let's get some more updates from the respective managers. Pardew had this to say: "I think we're good to watch. We're different to Manchester City. They retain the ball, they can dominate possession, and that will be the key - how many times we can unlock the door on our breakaways. It's great for our fans because of a little bit of ribbing about a top of the league clash."
Pellegrini, meanwhile, had previously focused on his new golden boy: "Kevin [De Bruyne] is an important player, like Raheem [Sterling], he has characteristics we need. His position is easy to settle in our team. He will be a very important player for us. He's in the squad list, we'll see whether he starts. He's a young player and he's improved a lot since he was last in the Premier League."
As we now know, De Bruyne has been placed on the bench today - an attempt to ease him gently into the in-form squad of the season so far, or a lack of willingness to fix something that clearly isn't broken? I'd say a bit of both.
HEAD TO HEAD: Now let's get down to cold hard stats. Palace's 2-1 home win over City in April ended a seven-game losing streak against them in all competitions, with the Eagles last securing successive league wins over the blue side of Manchester in the mid-1990s.
Promisingly for City, however, they have kept clean sheets in four of their last five league and cup games against Palace and scored in the last eighth league encounters.
Palace, enjoying their best start since 2006-07 with nine points from four games, would surpass their current highest-ever points tally after five games of a top-flight season with victory today. In addition they have won five of their last six Premier League games.
Now for City. They have won their last 10 league matches - a new club record. The top-flight record is 14, set by Arsenal in 2002. In addition Pellegrini's charges have scored 28 goals during this period and conceded only four times. And also, they have not conceded a goal in their last five league games - a sixth successive clean sheet on Saturday would set a new club record.
SOFA TIME: With just over ten minutes to go, have a watch of what the Sports Mole pundits had to say regarding this fixture.
PREDICTION: Despite Palace's good pedigree and brilliant start, I think the Sky Blue Juggernaut is too powerful and will bring the hosts back to earth today. I reckon a 3-0 win for Pellegrini's side.
The teams come out onto a sun-drenched Selhurst Park pitch! Not long to go now.
KICKOFF! Mike Jones blows the whistle and we're underway - City kick off, shooting towards the Holmesdale in the first half.
CHANCE! And no sooner we kick off that there's action already, and it's courtesy of the hosts as Bolasie fires narrowly over after a breakaway.
First few minutes and Palace are quickest out of the starting blocks. Following his first chance, Bolasie is involved again as his cross gets cleared behind for a Palace corner - one of two in quick succession before Sako overhits a set piece for a City goal kick.
But City now look to find their groove as Bony sends a header towards the top right-hand corner of the net, an effort ultimately well saved by McCarthy.
CHANCE! And what a save that was from the Palace keeper! City's free kick is taken quickly and sent to Nasri - the Frenchman breaks through the Palace back line and goes one-on-one with McCarthy, but a point-blank save keeps Palace's clean sheet intact!
Back come Palace as Bolasie chases onto a through ball by Puncheon, but the striker's low shot across goal is held by Hart. Blistering start from both teams.
Zaha is fouled by Sagna, giving Palace a free kick in a dangerous position on the left. The ball is whipped into the heart of the penalty by Puncheon but Kompany is just about able to get a foot on the cross.
CHANCE! What a shot by Souare - he picks up the ball in space on the left flank and lets rip with a strike that beats Hart before bouncing just wide of the far post!
Puncheon nearly plays Zaha in but Kompany just about does enough, smashing his clearance off the Palace man. No let-up to the action at this stage.
Now it's slowed down just a tad. Bolasie appeals for a free-kick and then Souare dives in and is perhaps lucky not to be booked. City beginning to control possession around the quarter-hour mark.
BOOKING: We have the first card of the game as Dann receives a yellow card after stopping Aguero from breaking away following a visitors' clearance. Moments earlier Cabaye was seemingly brought down by a challenge from Fernandinho but nothing given.
Concern from the City bench as Aguero remains down on the ground receiving medical treatment - he looks in some pain. Can he continue?
Yes he can - for now anyway. The talismanic forward is back on his feet, and play continues with the Argentinian part of it.
From a Palace throw-in, the ball is worked to Puncheon but his run was slightly mistimed and, as a result, the linesman's flag is raised for offside.
SUBSTITUTION: Aguero cannot shake off the apparent injury he suffered at the hands - or feet - of Dann, which will give Kevin De Bruyne the opportunity to come on.
BOOKING: Yaya Toure is shown a yellow card following a late lunge on McArthur. The interruptions have caused the game to lose tempo and become shapeless.
Bit of red mist descending onto the touchline as well as the pitch, with Pardew and Pellegrini appearing to be having a disagreement or two.
A handshake between the two managers puts an end to the conflict as the game seems to have descended into a bit of untidiness.
CHANCE! Two pulls of the trigger for City as De Bruyne finds Bony, who forces a save from McCarthy, while the Ivorian's second attempt following Nasri's cutback ends with similar results i.e. not in the back of the net.
No concrete chances to write home about in the last few minutes, with just a couple of tentative forays from both sides which don't have much of an impact.
CHANCE! We're still goalless here but City have another pop at goal as Navas tries to bend one from the edge of the area, but the effort flies over the bar.
This is no doubt going to come under scrutiny over the next few days...
Much will said about Aguero's injury but De Bruyne has been involved in a number of good City plays so far, so depending on the consequences of Dann's tackle, the Belgian could be fast-tracked to the starting XI, with all the responsibilities that come with such a position.
It's quietened down on the Selhurst turf as City have gone down a few gears and seem content to just probe gently for an opening without penetrating too deeply. As for Palace, Bolasie and Zaha link up well, but the latter is called offside when he gets in behind.
Four minutes of stoppage time as Puncheon nicks the ball off Toure in midfield and sends a half-volley wide of goal. Not long to go here.
De Bruyne sends a ferocious strike towards goal from about 20 yards, but it was straight down the middle and not difficult for McCarthy to claim.
A late flurry of chances in this game sees Zaha pick out Sako at the far post, but the resulting shot on the half volley goes into the crowd.
HALF TIME: CRYSTAL PALACE 0-0 MANCHESTER CITY
The referee's whistle puts an end to a first half which had plenty of chances and controversy to boot, with Scott Dann's challenge on Sergio Aguero forcing the Argentinian to exit the field. Kevin De Bruyne came on for Aguero and has impressed so far, but the City staff and faithful will now have to see just how many responsibilities the Belgian will have to take on depending on Aguero's injury.
A lively start saw both sides attack the opposition's final third, and towards the end there was some goalmouth action too, but as things stand it's goalless here at Selhurst Park.
Palace started brightly, but City weathered the storm and went on to notch up a few chances of their own. But obviously the Aguero injury will cast a bit of a cloud over the proceedings.
In terms of possession, City have dominated with just over 57 percent, but they've not been able to make much of it in Palace's final third. Will they regroup and go for the kill or can Palace continue their great start? Stay tuned to Sports Mole and find out!
All the players are back on the pitch, kickoff to come...
KICKOFF: Back underway as Palace do the honours.
Bolasie quickly wins a free kick from a push by Kompany which is taken quickly, but the visitors deal with Zaha's cross easily.
At the other end Kolarov collects Toure's ball and goes for glory but the effort is skied into the stands.
The pendulum then swings the other way as Zaha skins De Bruyne to find Puncheon, with the ball then offloaded to Bolasie and the latter's cross-shot palmed behind for a corner.
CHANCE! But here come City again with a quick counter, Navas bears down on goal and rounds McCarthy but scuffs his shot wide of the open goal!
All City now as Dann blocks a shot from Fernandinho before McCarthy gets down to save Toure's stinging follow-up effort.
PENALTY SHOUT! Nasri wants a penalty after tumbling in the box under Cabaye's challenge, but nothing given by the ref!
Zaha proving an absolute thorn in City's side as he skips his way into the box, but is deemed to have tripped Fernandinho. The ex-Man Utd man is a menace down the right.
Still end-to-end action as the two teams concede a corner each in quick succession, but again there's a certain element of toothlessness with regards to both sides' attacking prowess.
Every cloud and all that... already the plaudits are flying in for De Bruyne after replacing the injured Aguero early on.
Navas drills a low cross into the penalty area from the right but it's sent out for a corner, which comes to nothing.
City are dominating proceedings now, with Bony laying the ball off to Fernandinho, but the Brazilian's shot soars wildly over the crossbar.
Another City chance, another wayward shot. Same team, different player name - this time it's Nasri.
SUBSTITUTION: Dwight Gayle replaces Sako for the hosts, their first change of the afternoon.
BOOKING: Nasri goes into the referee's book for a late challenge on Bolasie.
CHANCE! Palace haven't created much lately but shots are fired as Souare's left-wing cross finds the head of Puncheon - his effort is ultimately saved by Hart.
BOOKING: The tackles are flowing now as Hangeland is booked for a crunching challenge on Nasri.
Zaha, ever so impressive for Palace today, gets the better of Kolarov and De Bruyne, but his pass to Puncheon is intercepted. At the other end, Toure goes for goal but fails to connect properly and the outcome is a wayward shot.
De Bruyne's in-swinging cross flies well over as Palace continue to get forced back deeper and deeper in their half.
SUBSTITUTION: Bolasie makes way for Mile Jedinak with just ten minutes to go here at Selhurst Park.
BOOKING: City's Mangala is booked for hauling down Puncheon as Palace set off on a promising counterattack. The Palace man is left limping.
Chung-Yong Lee comes on for Puncheon who didn't recover from Mangala's challenge. Third and final substitution for Palace as they too lose one of their players to an in-game foul.
In Palace's first spell of possession for some time, Zaha brings down a cross from Souare but is soon crowded out as he shapes up to shoot.
Still no sign of the deadlock being broken with fewer than five minutes left on the clock here at Selhurst Park. You wouldn't have expected this to be a goalless draw ahead of the game, did you? I certainly didn't.
CHANCE! Ohh what a chance for Palace to strike late on - Gayle has the chance to finish first time from Zaha's devastating cross, but he misses the target.
SUBSTITUTION: 18-year-old Kelechi Iheanacho comes on for Bony.
GOAL! CRYSTAL PALACE 0-1 MANCHESTER CITY (KELECHI IHEANACHO)
What a moment for Man City and what a moment for Kelechi Iheanacho, in the right place at the right time to pick up the loose ball after a saved Nasri shot to rifle home! Five added minutes here at Selhurst.
All happening here as Nasri comes off for Martin Demichelis, and moments later Iheanacho nearly grabs a second, but McCarthy is equal to it - Toure then blasts wide.
FULL TIME: CRYSTAL PALACE 0-1 MANCHESTER CITY
It's all over at Selhurst, and Man City now have five wins from five, thanks to Kelechi Iheanacho's late, late goal making it 1-0 to Pellegrini's side. The teenager will cherish this moment forever - but you can't help but feel for a well-drilled Palace side that more than matched their opponents today.
Stay tuned to Sports Mole for match analysis and player ratings from this game, not to mention all the results and latest reaction from all the day's main games! Thanks for following and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
