PEP GUARDIOLA did say that his side couldn’t hold a candle to Liverpool in the title race.
If he needed any further evidence of that it was presented to him on his 49th birthday.
Fernandinho was the unfortunate man to turn into his own net at the deathCredit: Getty Images – Getty
City thought they’d won it through Sergio AgueroCredit: AFP or licensors
And that evidence was damning.
Sergio Aguero did everything he could to save the party with two brilliant late strikes in five minutes to put the reigning champions in front.
Those goals took his career tally for Manchester City to 251 after the previous week’s double record as he became the highest-ever overseas Prem scorer and broke Alan Shearer’s hat-trick record with his 12th league treble.
Yet in Cenk Tosun’s shock first-half opener and in the unfortunate way Fernandinho handed Crystal Palace a 90th minute equaliser, Guardiola once again saw that by next season he has to sort out his defence.
And centre-half John Stones in particular, who started successive games for only the second time this season.
It is unlikely after his display that he will be making it three during the week against Sheffield United.
The only cake on show at the Etihad was being eaten by Aymeric Laporte around ten minutes before Cenk Tosun gave his new side a shock lead.
Laporte, five months out with a knee injury, and pencilled in to return against Fulham next weekend in the FA Cup, forked his way through the sweet as he watched the game from an executive box.
Crystal Palace celebrate their unlikely equaliserCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Referee Graham Scott had awarded City a second half penalty, before it was overturned by the VARCredit: PA:Press Association
Had he not finished by then he would have been choking on in it the way Stones allowed himself to be out-jumped by Gary Cahill in the build-up to Tosun’s 39th minute opener.
Cahill had all the time in the world to rise to meet Jams McCarthy’s corner.
Just as bad, Turkish front man Tosun was completely unmarked at the far post.
The closest player to him, as last week’s loan arrival from Everton directed his header downwards and beyond Ederson’s dive, was team-mate James Tomkins.
That goal meant that City have now kept only two clean sheets in their last 13 games.
In the last minute, when Guardiola would have wanted his team to be closing up shop having finally fractured Palace’s resistance, Wilfried Zaha was allowed the time to run free.
Right-back Joao Cancelo, far less Stones, could do nothing to stop his cross from the left and Fernandinho, under fierce pressure from sub Connor Wickham, could not prevent the ball hitting his legs and flying into his own net.
Guardiola later insisted that his players had done everything to cut the deficit on Liverpool to 11 points before this afternoon’s Anfeld clash with Manchester United.
Cenk Tosun marked his first Palace start with a goalCredit: EPA
And going forward, in the main, he was entitled to claim that.
In the first half hour alone City had nine goal attempts and mid-way through that spell Kevin De Bruyne smacked a fabulous 25 yard free kick against the bar.
Guardiola’s men racked up 13 corners against two and by the end had totalled 21 goal attempts while they had 72% of possession.
What’s more, VAR denied them a 72nd minute penalty when the ball hit Jairo Riedewald’s hand but on this occasion it did look like technology got it right.
The left back lunged at a cross from Cancelo and the ball spun off his toe and onto his hand – first prompting referee Graham Scott to point to the spot.
Yet having come into the game on the back of nine wins in their last ten matches with a goal tally of 32, their Achilles heel caused them the kind of stumble that has cost them so many precious points in defence of their title.
Precious, ever more precious, is Aguero, even if he wasn’t wearing the golden boots presented to him by his sponsor for the previous week’s record exploits.
It seemed that Palace, the only team to beat City in the Prem at home last season in a 3-2 victory, were going to do it again.
City have seen their title defence collapse in recent monthsCredit: AFP or licensors
But in the 83rd minute sub Gabriel Jesus swivelled on the left edge of the box and delivered a waist high cross.
Aguero got himself behind Cahill – solid as a rock all day – to steer the ball into the net in superb style.
Indeed so good was his effort that Palace boss Roy Hodgson reckoned there would have been no way of preventing that equaliser.
Five minutes later Benjamin Mendy finally delivered a cross of decent quality and his Argentinian team-mate made it look much better.
Aguero rose to head downward, the bounce leaving goalkeeper Vicente Guaita for dead.
The game should have been dead and buried for Palace at that point, too.
Credit Hodgson’s men for keeping going and for the quality of that cross from Zaha.
But Fernandinho’s own goal and the opener scored by Tosun proved to Guardiola that it is his soft centre that has iced any chance of ever catching Liverpool now.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
