London, March 15 (BUS): Manchester City led by 13 points in the English Premier League two months ago. Next time the champions play, they might be in second place.
In the latest twist in the title race, City stumbled against Crystal Palace – once again – with a 0-0 draw at glorious Selhurst Park on Monday to give second-placed Liverpool more hope of reeling in Pep Guardiola’s side and reclaiming the English language’s biggest prize. Football, The Associated Press reports.
City have expanded their advantage to four points but Liverpool play twice – first against Arsenal on Wednesday – before being next City in the league, on April 2.
The top two also meet at the city’s Etihad Stadium on April 10.
Palace were the last team to stop City scoring in the league – in the 2-0 win over Al Ittihad on October 30 – and did so again, even if Patrick Vieira’s side took advantage of their luck.
Joao Cancelo and Kevin De Bruyne hit the post for City in a game that was mostly one-way except for some sporadic and dangerous counter-attacks from Palace, reflecting what happened in the two teams meeting 4 and a half months ago.
Arguably the best chance of the match fell to City midfielder Bernardo Silva, who somehow managed a long shot from barely two metres after flipping Jack Grealish low across the face of the goal.
Guardiola opted not to make any substitutions, saying he is happy with the way his team is playing despite the frustration that appeared to start in the last 15 minutes.
Silva remained optimistic about the City position with nine games remaining.
“There is still a long way to go,” said the Portugal international. “We are still in a good position. It is still better to be in our position than Liverpool. They still have to play in our stadium too. It will be exciting.”
But Liverpool has the best shape. While the Reds have won their last eight league games, City have lost points in three of their last seven games – after a 1-1 draw with Southampton in January and a 3-2 loss at home to Tottenham last month.
Liverpool’s superior firepower may prove the difference, as City once again lost an advantage against Palace without a striker outside the squad.
As for Palace, Vieira was proud of how his players held up against what he considers one of the “best four or five teams in Europe”.
“It was a team effort and we did really well,” Vieira said. “When you play against the quality of their players, sometimes you need a little luck and sometimes we were lucky but you also need to put in a good performance.”