Man City Drop Points At Crystal Palace In 2-2 Draw
Pep Guardiola said he was proud of his Manchester City players in the draw at Crystal Palace that extended their rocky run to one win in nine games.
The champions twice came from behind as they took a point at Selhurst Park.
City’s win over Nottingham Forest in midweek failed to herald the start of them rediscovering consistent form – and Palace may consider themselves unlucky not to have won Saturday’s game.
Oliver Glasner’s side led after just four minutes when Will Hughes picked out wing-back Daniel Munoz in plenty of space to drive in the opening goal.
They had chances to extend their lead before Erling Haaland jumped well to head in Matheus Nunes’ cross to level.
Another defender put Palace ahead, with Hughes’ corner being headed in by Maxence Lacroix.
However, City salvaged some reward from their Selhurst Park visit when Bernardo Silva found Rico Lewis, who fired a fine effort into the top corner from the edge of the box.
Lewis was later sent off for two bookings, the second for a foul on Trevoh Chalobah.
“We’ll take the point,” said Guardiola. “I’m incredibly proud of the players, how they fought, came back twice and difficult conditions.”
City are eight points behind leaders Liverpool, having played a game more than Arne Slot’s side, while Palace are four points above the relegation zone.
Speaking about their injuries, Guardiola told BBC Sport: “It’s a season to suffer.
“We cannot talk about the title race when we lost four games in a row and now we draw. We’ll try to win the next game and recover people. We’ll see in the last month.”
Manchester City’s iffy spell of form has extended to one win, the 3-0 victory over Forest on Wednesday, in nine matches – a run going back to the end of October.
There was plenty to be concerned about here.
Kyle Walker was found wanting for both Palace goals. He kept Munoz onside for the first and was beaten far too easily in the air by Lacroix for the second.
Stefan Ortega, preferred in goal to Ederson for the third game in a row, might have done better with the opener too as he let it go through his body.
Had it not been for Ruben Dias making four good blocks to stop Palace shots, it could have been even worse before Haaland popped up for his 13th Premier League goal of the season – but only his third since September.
Lewis has enjoyed playing against Palace, with all three of his Premier League goals coming against the Eagles. But he will not have enjoyed his sending-off, with the first card for dissent and the second for a foul in the closing minutes.
City did have other chances too with Haaland blasting the ball at the head of goalkeeper Dean Henderson when through on goal, and Ilkay Gundogan volleying over the post. But they had fewer shots than Palace.
And City were left furious at the end when the referee blew for full-time just as they were launching a dangerous attack.
Two more big games are coming up for City as they visit Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday and host rivals Manchester United next Sunday.
Can Guardiola get his team to rediscover their swagger?
