Having defeated Crystal Palace six times in their last six attempts, tonight's Premier League fixture was expected to be a Manchester City whitewash, springboarding them back into the division's title race.
Premier League football has a knack of throwing up an absolute classic when you least expect it however and tonight was certainly one of those occasions - the Eagles trumping the reigning champions to claim an impressive 2-1 win.
And just in case you missed the action, we at Football Fancast have been kind enough to outline the three biggest talking points for you. Enjoy!
Who needs the ball when you're this good without it?
We've seen some back-to-the-wall jobs before in the Premier League - Fulham's win against Manchester United at Old Trafford last season particularly coming to mind - but tonight's affair has to be right up there.
Palace finished the match with just 26% possession, taking only five chances at goal compared to Manchester City's 22. The visitors had over 800 touches of the ball - including 53 in Palace's penalty area.
But this side is clearly set up for double-banked defending, counter-attacks and set pieces and that's exactly what they did against Manchester City. As you can see from the heatmaps below, the visitors claimed far superior territory throughout the ninety minutes:
But Palace took the chances that came their way; firstly, a Glenn Murray rebound; and secondly, a Jason Puncheon free-kick with a little bit of help from the top of the City wall.
The ever-under-appreciated Glenn Murray
Let's move on to the indisputable hero of the hour - Crystal Palace's industrious poacher Glenn Murray.
He was largely forgotten about under prior regimes at Selhurst Park, sidelined with a serious long-term injury under Ian Holloway, a seemingly poor fit for Tony Pulis' direct style and sent out on loan to Reading by Neil Warnock.
He's found a new lease of life under Alan Pardew, however, tonight netting his fifth goal in five Premier League appearances just hours after the Daily Mail revealed him to be the deadliest striker in the division in terms of goals-per-minute.
It wasn't just Murray's goal, however. His hold-up play and work-rate was absolutely superb, demonstrated best by him winning 10 aerial duels and seven fouls - the highest returns of any player on either side. Twitter were particularly impressed with his performance:
Manuel Pellegrini might not last the season at this rate
Having plummeted out of the Champions League to Barcelona after daring to play 4-4-2 against the greatest possession side in world football, few anticipate Manuel Pellegrini to be at Manchester City next season. The owners don't like failure, and he's set to end the campaign without a trophy.
At this rate however, the hapless Chilean might not even last until the summer. 4-4-2 once again proved a naive strategy away from home as Palace continually plagued City on the counter-attack and the exclusions of Samir Nasri and James Milner from the starting line-up were particularly bizarre.
Needless to say, City fans on Twitter weren't particularly impressed:
Having now lost three away fixtures in a row, if City get embarrassed in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford next weekend, Pellegrini might find himself handed a P45 sooner than expected.