Manchester City hit by Fernandinho own goal as Crystal Palace grab draw

If this is the day Manchester City all but mathematically surrender their title, frustration will surely be the searing emotion. They dominated Crystal Palace and looked to have overturned Cenk Tosun’s first-half strike via two late Sergio Agüero goals.

Wilfried Zaha then raced upfield and with the clock in added time the winger hit a cross at Fernandinho and the Brazilian turned it beyond his goalkeeper, Ederson.

This quietened the home crowd, and the draw means Liverpool can pull 16 points ahead of City if Manchester United are beaten on Sunday, with another game in hand still to play.

On what was David Silva’s 300th league appearance Pep Guardiola made three changes, drafting in Ilkay Gündogan, Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling, with Roy Hodgson introducing only the on-loan Tosun as Palace’s forward.

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There is no doubt Benjamin Mendy enhances this City team – the issue is if he can stay fit. Against Palace the left-back’s ability to hit a curving cross that is difficult to defend was illustrated on countless occasions, with an early one aimed at Sterling coming close to creating an opening goal.

David and Bernardo Silva, Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne were combining to give Palace problems. When the Belgian crashed a 20-yard free-kick off Vicente Guaita’s crossbar Fernandinho looked to finish the rebound from close in only to be put off by a James McArthur shove. The Palace midfielder was lucky this went undetected as he had just been booked by Graham Scott for the foul that led to De Bruyne taking aim from the dead ball.

Hodgson had a fierce word with Guaita for hitting a clearance straight to Ederson, indicating how the visitors could ill afford to waste the scant possession they had.

Zaha is expected to carry Palace’s attacking threat and it was noticeable how Bernardo Silva and João Cancelo worked hard to go tight on him when he received.

John Stones may have been lucky not to concede penalty when attempting a tackle on Zaha: the Palace man went down but VAR, to the centre-back’s relief, ruled him innocent.

Sterling is not renowned for headed finishes but he went near to opening the scoring from a Bernardo Silva ball from the right.

By now the half-hour had passed and Hodgson could be pleased at the goalless scoreline. The City support, though, were becoming frustrated at having nothing to show for their team’s pre-eminence.

Agüero looked to have fashioned a clear chance when he left James McCarthy on his backside but unfortunately for City the midfielder’s trailing leg cleared the ball.

Now, Palace performed a classic smash-and-grab act. After winning a corner on the right McCarthy swung the ball in, Gary Cahill beat Stones and his header was turned home by Tosun.

City’s shock did not last long, with Bernardo Silva forcing Guaita to tip a shot over. While Palace had hardly attacked the home side were staring at ceding further ground to Liverpool.

Guardiola’s instructions looked to be that his men should use the flanks more – Stones drawing his ire when turning infield instead. However, the centre-back’s pass reached Gündogan who found Mendy and suddenly City were advancing; the Frenchman’s dipping ball deserved to find someone on the end of it.

Sterling did manage to reach the ball in a dangerous area moments later when passed to by David Silva inside the Palace area but the effort went wide.

Mendy’s next delivery caused havoc as first Agüero and then Bernardo Silva had attempts blocked desperately, deepening the sense that Palace would soon be breached.

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City were as relentless as in the first period but with added requisite edge. A De Bruyne corner was the latest to pepper the danger area but the home team’s vulnerability at the back was illuminated again when a Zaha chip was controlled and volleyed by Tosun, Ederson having to save sharply.

On 62 minutes, Guardiola replaced David Silva with Gabriel Jesus, the Brazilian partnering Agüero. The move nearly worked straight away as Jesus scrambled to shoot before the angle defeated him.

City became more desperate, conscious of the need to engineer a win that would salvage any faint hope of catching Liverpool. They thought they had a penalty when Bernardo Silva’s cross was inadvertently kicked on to his hand by Jairo Riedewald. Graham Scott, the referee, pointed to the spot but VAR ruled this out: it was an apt summation of the agonising character of City’s display.

Finally, Agüero came up with a classic poacher’s strike with eight minutes left, then a header from the Argentinian seemed to have clinched the points for City. It was not to be their afternoon, though.

Neither, surely, is it their title.