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 .
Manchester City beaten 2-1 by Crystal Palace on Eliaquim Mangala Monday . £40m signing Easter was left on the bench . Crystal Palace 's entire starting XI cost just £17million . CLICK HERE for all the latest Manchester City news .