Manchester City are three points behind Liverpool in the Premier League.
Manager Pep Guardiola has lamented that Manchester City have fallen further behind in the Premier League title race after bringing in a new leader.
The reigning champions rallied from a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 with Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium. City were in cruise control after goals from Jack Graelish and Rico Lewis.
But they lost focus when Jean-Philippe Mateta reduced Palace’s deficit in the 76th minute.
Mateta was fouled by Phil Foden in added time and the visitors were awarded a penalty. Michael Olise scored, of course.
City have won just one of their last six Premier League games and have also picked up points from wins at Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
Guardiola’s men are only fourth in the Championship and could go six points clear if leaders Liverpool beat Manchester United at Anfield. The chief of the city did not complain that his army had to share its spoils with the palace.
Guardiola: “It’s not luck, it’s natural. We offer two points. If you refuse this punishment, you will get what you deserve. The match cannot be finished. That feeling. “It’s like giving Chelsea a penalty. We don’t deserve it.
We performed brilliantly against Liverpool and Tottenham but we didn’t win the games and for various reasons we couldn’t finish games consistently.
“We played the same way. Finally, we may need more movement from other players in the final third.
But in the first attempt they ran and scored [Jean-Philippe Mateta] and in the last minute we gave them [a penalty]. “You have to be careful in the 18m area, but we didn’t do that,” he said.
