text: The view that Manchester City’s chance at defending their Premier League title has been ruined through bad spending gathered pace after they were defeated by a club whose entire team cost less than half one of their substitutes. Crystal Palace’s XI on Monday night may only have been worth a mere £17m, but left back Martin Kelly still made it through a City defence deemed good enough to keep £40m signing Eliaquim Mangala on the bench to tee up a chance for Wilfried Zaha just 60 seconds into the game. Mangala joined from Porto in August last year and is contracted to City until June 2019. Eliaquim Mangala (green bib) prepares to come on but he never made it off the Manchester City bench . However, striker Glenn Murray succeeded in putting another dent in City’s chances of redeeming themselves after a run of four losses away, when he scored Palace’s first goal. Murray cost Palace nothing when joined from arch rivals Brighton in 2011. Jason Puncheon, signed for a comparative pittance of £1.9m, delivered City their final blow with a goal from a finely executed free-kick. Glenn Murray (left) cost Palace nothing four years ago yet found a way past the City defence . Another expensive City player, £24m-man Yaya Toure, got his team back in the game with 12 minutes left, but they couldn’t penetrate Palace’s defence to find an equaliser and a 2-1 defeat leaves them nine points adrift of the top. Toure joined from Barcelona in July 2010 and is contracted to City until 2017. After spending a total of £500m pounds on transfer fees, City might have expected to be higher than a precarious fourth in the league, but judging by their latest results, it’s teams like Crystal Palace that seem to be getting their value for money. Mangala has endured a miserable first season at the Etihad Stadium since his £40million move .
target: Manchester City beaten 2-1 by Crystal Palace on Easter Monday .
  £40m signing Eliaquim Mangala was left on the bench .
  Crystal Palace's entire starting XI cost just £17million .
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