Bernardo Silva battle with Conor Gallagher will please Man City boss in Crystal Palace inquest

If Manchester City threw the kitchen sink at Crystal Palace to try to get a goal on Monday night, their opponents went above and beyond to keep them out.

Conor Gallagher continued his impressive form this season by running more than he has ever done in the Premier League - an almighty 12.5km across the 90 minutes - in order to harry City at every opportunity. No wonder he said in his post-match interview that he couldn't feel his legs after such a mammoth effort.

Running was at the heart of Patrick Vieira's gameplan that he had put together as he looked to stifle City, and he joked afterwards that Gallagher and his other midfielders maybe needed an extra day of recovery after the shift they put in. Palace excelled themselves in order to claim their point.

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They would not have managed it without a bit of luck though, and Bernardo Silva in particular was culpable for a number of glaring misses that he would be expected to turn in on any other day. It wasn't so much about missing a striker as the forwards they have got being below their usual standards.

Such poor performance may make Pep Guardiola think twice about keeping Bernardo in the team when they head to Southampton as he looks to shake his team out of a mini-slump that has seen them fail to score in the last two games. However, a look at the running statistics says more about the Portugal international's contribution to the team.

Bernardo actually ran further than Gallagher did over the course of the 90 minutes. That is remarkable in its own right but even more so when you consider that City had 74 per cent possession on Monday night.

It is less surprising that Gallagher did so much