Kevin De Bruyne played a starring role as Manchester City came from 2-0 down to beat Crystal Palace 5-2 at the Etihad Stadium.

The Citizens captain – who confirmed last week he will leave the club at the end of the season – grabbed a goal and an assist as they boosted their hopes of Champions League qualification.

Goals from Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards put Palace in the driving seat midway through the first half, though De Bruyne's 25-yard free-kick gave City hope.

Omar Marmoush drilled home to drag City level before the break, and Pep Guardiola's team then produced arguably their best performance of the season in the second half.

Mateo Kovacic fired in from the edge of the box to make it 3-2, then James McAtee latched onto Ederson's searching pass to round Dean Henderson for City's fourth.

Fellow youngster Nico O'Reilly saw a volley deflect in late on to add some gloss to City's win, while Palace suffered their first defeat in 11 away Premier League games.

With Newcastle United and Chelsea not playing until Sunday, City took advantage to move above them into fourth, while Oliver Glasner's side stay 11th.

Data Debrief: De Bruyne inspires City turnaround

This marked only the third time in Premier League history that a side won by a three-goal margin despite trailing by two goals, after Manchester United and Arsenal both achieved the feat against Tottenham in April 2009 and February 2012 respectively.

Not only that, but this was the first league game City had won after trailing by two or more goals since they beat Spurs 4-2 in January 2023.

Ironically, the last time Palace lost a Premier League match when leading by two or more goals also came against City at the Etihad in August 2022.

De Bruyne sparked City's revival with his 30th Premier League goal from outside the penalty area, becoming the sixth player to reach that tally.

And after teeing up Kovacic, the Belgian has now scored and assisted in 28 different Premier League games, with only Mohamed Salah (42), Wayne Rooney (36), Thierry Henry (32) and Alan Shearer (31) doing so more often in the competition's history.

Meanwhile, Ederson claimed his fourth league assist of the season with his superb diagonal ball to McAtee, who scored on his maiden start in the division.

Ederson's assist was the eighth by a goalkeeper in 2024-25, the joint-most in a single season in the competition along with 1992-93 and 2007-08.