Wasteful Manchester City drop points again in latest title race twist

Even as Manchester City’s thoughts turned to world domination, their English crown may have slipped a little from their grasp. As Crystal Palace came from 2-0 down to draw, City were left with a lone win from six league games before the Fifa Club World Cup. By the time they play again in the Premier League, they could be 12 points behind Liverpool. And if they have overcome sizeable deficits before, they could yet have cause to rue this Palace fightback.

An odd game was often one-sided, one-way traffic for large swathes and yet finished with the points shared. After 90 minutes, City had registered 75 per cent possession, 19 shots to three, nine on target to one. After injury-time, Palace had a point and the sense that, if the game had gone on a little longer, they were the likelier winners.

They only have one win from their last nine games but Roy Hodgson, so irascible after the late loss to Liverpool last week, could savour the drama at the end this time. As Phil Foden, with an almighty swipe, upended the excellent Jean-Philippe Mateta, referee Paul Tierney pointed to the spot and Michael Olise rolled his penalty past Ederson.

The midfielder was a fitting scorer – Palace’s brighter moments tended to involve him and the relentless Mateta – but City could rue an uncharacteristic carelessness. They have drawn their last three league games at the Etihad Stadium; indeed, home and away, they have drawn four times in six fixtures, losing a lead at least once in each. They have not kept a clean sheet in that time and even as Pep Guardiola packs his side with central defenders, there is an error-prone element to the champions.

Ederson’s ill-fated afternoon contained no saves but could have brought a first-half red card. The Brazilian was booked for sending Mateta flying just outside the box; aggrieved by the officiating against Liverpool, Hodgson looked incredulous. Yet the Frenchman possessed the ability to get back up and carry on running at City. He struck when he tapped in Jeffrey Schlupp’s low cross.

And in a tale of two goalkeepers, Palace could ultimately end up grateful for a Manchester United old boy. Dean Henderson made a belated first Premier League start, with Sam Johnstone injured, and excelled. A superb early parry from a stooping Julian Alvarez’s header, a fine block from Josko Gvardiol and a flying save from Bernardo Silva were among the highlights of his performance.

Palace sought to shield him with as many players as possible. Hodgson has a famous fondness for the back four – he helped introduce the system in Sweden in the 1970s – but used five at the back here. Palace saw so little of the ball that Chris Richards completed one solitary pass in the first 40 minutes. Meanwhile, for the first time since such records were compiled in the Premier League, every player on one side created at least one chance in the first half. That side, it scarcely needs saying, was City. Ruben Dias showed both his passing range and an audacity when shooting, almost finding the net from 25 yards.

He was involved in the breakthrough. Palace had all 11 players within 30 yards of their goal, and yet City still played through them with two perceptive passes: first, Ruben Dias to Phil Foden, then the Mancunian on the turn to Jack Grealish. He sidefooted in a shot with the kind of assured finish he has provided too infrequently until his recent scoring spree: it took a three-minute VAR check for offside to confirm it but, after just eight goals in his first 61 league games for City, he now has three in three for the first time in the Premier League. With Erling Haaland out, it seemed as though Grealish was taking on his mantle as the goalscorer.

For Rico Lewis, meanwhile, there was a different sort of landmark. The teenager had struck in the Champions League against Sevilla last season but he added a first Premier League goal, hooking in a shot after Rodri turned Grealish’s pass into his path.

And yet City were to rue their profligacy. They had a goal ruled out when the offside Rodri tried to apply the finishing touch to Alvarez’s free kick. All 10 of their outfield starters had at least one shot; remarkably, the left-back Gvardiol had three on target. And so there might be a temptation to chalk a draw up to Haaland’s foot injury, to the absence of the specialist scorer. But to lose a 2-0 lead, to concede twice to an injury-hit Palace team with just nine goals in their previous 12 matches, pointed to other problems. They may need to fix them in Saudi Arabia if they are to defend their Premier League title.