Alan Pardew's record at Crystal Palace continues to improve after his side beat last seasons champions Manchester City 2-1 in a gripping game which leaves City with a lot to do if they want to retain their title.

The game started with Crystal Palace missing a big chance just after 30 seconds when Martin Kelly picked out Wilfired Zaha with a low cross along the six yard box but the young winger didn't show any composure and blasted his shot high and wide. That set the tone for the rest of the game, which was a gripping encounter between the two sides with chance after chance being created from both sets of players throughout the 90 minutes.

After Palace's early chance, City went on to dominate possession in the first half and forced two fantastic saves out of Julian Speroni and Serio Aguero struck the post but Palace never looked like conceding, showing great resilience against a strong City team. Throughout all of City's possession of the ball Palace managed to break away time after time and Glenn Murray played a big part in that, winning free kick after free kick and relieving the pressure the on the team.

The first goal came just before half time after Murray won Palace a free kick just inside City's half. From the free kick Puncheon floated the ball into box which was initially cleared by City's defence but Joe Ledley headed the ball back in, and the ball fell to Scott Dann who fired his shot at goal which Joe Hart saved, but he couldn't stop the rebound falling straight to Glenn Murray who showed more desire than Demichelis in getting to the ball and he tucked away his fifth goal in five games.

Crystal Palace started the second half the same way they ended the first with Murray once again winning a free kick just outside City's penalty box. From the resulting free kick Jason Puncheon managed to get the ball up and over the wall and past Joe Hart to score an outstanding free kick. There has been a number of amazing goals this weekend and Puncheon's free kick has to be up there with the best of them.

After Palace's second goal, City continued to press and felt they should have had a penalty after Fernandinho's shot bounced up onto Murray's hand but nothing was given. The Brazilian was then denied by a goal line clearance from James McArthur.

City's breakthrough came in the 78th minute after Yaya Toure lashed home a loose ball from 15 yards out.

The Ivorian nearly grabbed an equaliser when his deflected cross looked to be looping over Julian Speroni but the Argentine managed to claw the ball out and push it wide for a corner.

Palace held on for their third win in a row and moved back up to 11th, 3 points behind Stoke and West ham who play each other at the weekend. The defeat leaves Manchester City in 4th place and they now go into Sunday's derby at Old Trafford having won just 18 points from their past 12 games - eight fewer than their fierce rivals.