Trust Manchester City to even make long balls good to watch.
Pep Guardiola's side have played some fantastic football over the last five seasons but are usually associated with keeping the ball on the floor and playing through opponents. When you have a player such as Riyad Mahrez though, it is understandable that the Blues should look for the winger and his magnificent first touch whenever they get a chance.
The plan was clear at Selhurst Park: whenever the team got the chance, the ball would be swept aerially over to the right, where it would be plucked out of the sky effortlessly and exquisitely by Mahrez, giving City intent in the attacking third. It happened in the third minute from a Joao Cancelo ball, it happened in the fourth minute from Rodri and it kept happening.
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Mahrez is an antidote to some of the layman complaints about professional footballers. It may be a frustration when players keep hitting the first man at corners, but to watch Mahrez bring the ball down again and again and again is a treat.
It served a purpose too, keeping Palace stretched on the wings and allowing Mahrez and Kevin De Bruyne pockets of space on the right to chip away at the resistance of the home team. Midway through the first half the Algerian perfectly scooped up a ball from John Stones and tested Vincent Guaita, and he went close soon after to force another save.
Ultimately, the tactic didn't work but there were extraordinary circumstances behind it. No team this season has had as many shots on goal as City did at Selhurst Park (31) and not scored.
Bernardo Silva was horribly wasteful, Phil Foden quiet, De Bruyne went close on a number of occasions and even the defenders went close. If City played that game another 99 times, you suspect they would win it 99 times.
That doesn't help them in the title race, with more dropped points encouraging Liverpool ahead of their trip to Arsenal on Wednesday; win at the Emirates and Jurgen Klopp's team will reduce the gap to a point.
It says a lot about how important Mahrez has become to this team that he was looked for from the first whistle until the last. It took a while after he joined from Leicester for his individual style to gel in the City machine, and his work back is much better now than it was when he joined.
After making the difference more often than not in the business end of last season, Mahrez is streets ahead of his teammates as top scorer in this term. And with such a beautiful first touch, the winger offers Guardiola and his teammates a guarantee of attacking threat that will usually help his team over the line.
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