Palace restrict wasteful Man City to tie
Key takeaways:
- Aymeric Laporte had an excellent opportunity to open the scoring in the first half.
- Manchester City missed their possibility to go six points clear at the top of the Premier League as they were restricted by a resilient Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Man City vs. Crystal Palace tied:
City overpowered proceedings, twice striking the woodwork, while defender Aymeric Laporte failed to find the net with the goal at his understanding in the first half.
The effect suggests Liverpool can miss City's lead to one point by beating Arsenal on Wednesday.
In front of a raucous crowd, Palace demoralized their opponents, although they made little themselves going on.
A point marks them 11th as they raised their expectancies of a top-half finish.
A good evening for fans of Palace - and Liverpool
Eight weeks ago, Manchester City's lead at the top of the Premier League was 13 points - although Liverpool, in third at the time, had two matches in hand. After this draw in south London, the gap is currently four points.
Liverpool has one match in hand over their opponents, with the team still playing at Etihad Stadium in April.
Pep Guardiola's team was inspired from the off against Palace, with Joao Cancelo hitting the post from range after 30 minutes and Laporte shooting the rebound off target with the goal at his mercy.
Captain Kevin de Bruyne hit the base of the post midway through the second half, while Riyad Mahrez forced Palace keeper Vicente Guaita into an acceptable one-handed save on the follow-up.
And Bernardo Silva also failed to transform a productive opening late on, poking Jack Grealish's pass across goal just wide on an off-night for City's forwards.
The champions, who arrived in this game having won 16 of their previous 18 matches, were made to regret their missed chances, and their players cut frustrated figures at the full-time whistle.