Palmer stars as EDS finish season in style

Having already won the title last time out against Leeds United, City were able to turn on the style, with Cole Palmer opening the scoring at the Etihad Stadium with a fine finish in the 21st minute.

The midfielder then turned provider, setting up defender Rico Lewis to thrash in our second on the half-hour mark, before Palmer doubled his personal tally, curling in a superb free-kick before the half-time.

Kayky finished off a great team move to grab our fourth shortly after the break before Liam Delap scored a quick-fire double to make it six and substitute Darko Gyabi slotted home a seventh in the closing stages.

WHAT HAPPENED

City’s start to the game was relentless, with wave after wave of attacks having to be dealt by the Everton back-line, only to be faced with suffocating amounts of pressure from our forwards once they had won the ball. 

However, despite our dominance, the two best chances in the early stages came from the visitors. Firstly, Charlie Whitaker’s right-footed volley cannoned off the bar before Lewis Dobbin rounded van Sas, but he couldn’t get his shot on target before Tom Cannon’s follow-up was cleared off the line by Shea Charles. 

Big chances did fall to City, with Liam Delap seeing an effort rebound off the post before Kayky’s follow-up was cleared off the line by Everton defender Eli Campbell. 

Our breakthrough came in the 21st minute, with Romeo Lavia finding Palmer on the edge of the box, who took a touch and stroked a lovely left-footed finish beyond the outstretched keeper Harry Tyrer into the bottom corner to give us the lead. 

Just ten minutes later, our lead was doubled and once again, Palmer was involved. Inside the area, the midfielder delivered a delicate chipped-through ball which found the overlapping Lewis, and the right-back smashed the ball into the roof of the net from a tight angle, scoring his first goal for the Elite Development Squad. 

And shortly afterwards, our two-goal lead became three, once again thanks to a piece of brilliance from Palmer, who curled in a sumptuous free-kick from 25 yards, getting over the wall and easily beating Tyrer, flying into the top right corner.

Into the second half, we did not have to wait long to see our lead extended, as just six minutes in, a great piece of link-up between substitute Oscar Bobb and Kayky saw the latter fed through on goal, and the Brazilian finished off the move, sliding the ball underneath Tyrer as we increased our lead to four. 

Delap got in on the scoring, sliding in to poke home Bobb’s pass across goal, before doubling his own personal tally, slotting home a right-footed effort from inside the area, also set up by Bobb to take our tally up to six. 

The scoring didn’t stop there however, as substitute Gyabi raked up another one for the hosts, faking the defender onto his left foot on the edge of the area before striking into the bottom corner. 

That rounded off the scoring at the Etihad Stadium, wrapping up a fantastic Premier League 2 campaign for Brian Barry-Murphy‘s side, seeing us secure back-to-back titles. 

The players were rewarded with the trophy following the full-time whistle, lifting it in front of the appreciative crowd at the Etihad Stadium. 

HOW WE LINED UP

Brian Barry-Murphy selected an all star line-up for our final Premier League 2 bow of the season, starting with Mikki van Sas in between the sticks. 

Under-18s captain Rico Lewis started at right-back with Tom Galvez on the opposite flank, whilst Shea Charles and Luke Mbete teamed up at centre-back to complete the defensive unit. 

Romeo Lavia anchored the midfield behind a very attack-minded duo of Cole Palmer and James McAtee. 

Kayky lined-up on the right flank with Sam Edozie on the left, providing the support to striker and captain for the evening Liam Delap. 

Manchester City EDS

Starting XI: van Sas, Lewis, Charles, Mbete, Galvez, Lavia, Kayky, Palmer, Delap (C), McAtee, Edozie. 

Subs: Oduroh, Murray-Jones, Gyabi, Bobb, Egan-Riley. 

Everton U23

Starting XI: Tyrer, Mills, Campbell, Astley (C), Weich, Butterfield, Whitaker, Price, Dobbin, Cannon, Laurence.

Subs: Anderson, Crellin, Hunt, McAllister, Garcia.