Former referee explains why Crystal Palace had third goal disallowed vs Man City

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has explained why Crystal Palace's third 'goal' was ruled out against Manchester City after Ederson was prevented from releasing the ball.

City were already 2-0 down to Palace on Saturday when the match threatened to descend into farce. Ederson had just made a decent stop when he trotted out to the edge of the area, went to roll the ball out to one of his teammates but had his effort blocked by Odsonne Edouard.

The Palace attacker stuck his leg out at the exact moment Ederson released the ball, deflecting it to teammate Jordan Ayew who stroked the ball into the unguarded net.

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Referee Darren England immediately blew his whistle for a foul, awarding City an indirect free-kick for prevention of the goalkeeper from releasing the ball.

There were some half-hearted protests from the Palace players, but they were nothing like the uproar that followed online with rival fans, former players and even pundits on Match of the Day - including Gary Lineker and Ian Wright - saying they thought the goal should have stood.

However, while appearing on Sky Sports News on Monday, former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher saved the sanity of City fans by confirming that the goal was correctly chalked off.

"The law was changed to allow the goalkeeper that freedom of movement," Gallagher said.

"He's [Ederson] got to be allowed to release the ball. You say it's left his hand, but he's still in the process of bowling that ball out like a bowling ball. In that process, the player can't challenge him. Until he's released the ball no player can challenge him."

City went on to score four unanswered goals in the second half