Yaya Toure celebrated his first Premier League appearance of the season by scoring both of Manchester City's goals in a 2-1 triumph over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park this evening.
The Ivorian scored late in each half to secure a return to winning ways for the visitors, while Connor Wickham's second-half equaliser was ultimately not enough to prevent Palace from falling to a fifth consecutive defeat.
Pep Guardiola hinted during his pre-match press conference that he could rotate his side for the match, and the Spaniard kept his word by making six changes, including returns to the starting XI for Vincent Kompany and Toure.
The pair would go on to experience contrasting fortunes, with Kompany's latest comeback from injury lasting just 35 minutes before he was forced off after colliding with his own goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
The Belgian had little to do during his short time on the field, with both sides struggling to create goalscoring chances in the opening half-hour.
Christian Benteke dragged one snapshot wide after 15 minutes, but it wasn't until the 33rd minute that City had their first threatening moment when Sergio Aguero couldn't steer Aleksandar Kolarov's cross towards goal.
The only shot on target in the first half arrived with six minutes remaining, and it provided the opening goal too as Toure, whose apology to manager Guardiola had paved a way for his return to the side, played a one-two with Nolito before firing his finish into the top corner via a deflection.
Palace boss Alan Pardew brought Wickham on at half time in an attempt to spark his side into life, and 10 minutes after the restart they began to apply some pressure in search of the equalising goal.
Benteke, who had been lauded as "unbeatable" in the air by Guardiola before the match, began to live up to that reputation with two towering headers in quick succession, but the first was kept out by Bravo before his second was hacked away before it could reach the keeper.
Wilfried Zaha also squandered a follow-up effort after Benteke's first header, but City weathered the storm and soon began to fight back, with Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne firing off target within one minute of each other.
The pair combined five minutes later when De Bruyne's cross was flicked towards goal by Aguero at the near post, but Wayne Hennessey took the sting off the shot before Joel Ward slid in at the far post to clear the ball off the line.
Ward's goal-saving clearance proved doubly important just seconds later as Palace went straight up the other end and equalised, with Wickham beating Pablo Zabaleta before powering his finish past Bravo at the near post.
City immediately went in search of a goal to regain their lead and ensure that their recent record did not extend to just one win from their last six Premier League games, but both Raheem Sterling and Kolarov were unable to make the most of decent openings inside the area.
It was left to Toure to save the day, though, as the Ivorian tucked the ball home from close range after being left completely unmarked from a low corner into the box.
Palace nearly rescued a late point when Jason Puncheon poked an effort agonisingly wide in the seventh minute of stoppage time, but ultimately the hosts slumped to a fifth straight defeat for the first time since February to leave them still just one point clear of the relegation zone.
City, meanwhile, move joint top of the Premier League table after Liverpool could only manage a draw with Southampton and will now turn their attention to a crucial Champions League clash with Borussia Monchengladbach on Wednesday.
Barney Corkhill
