Manchester City failed to win and had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace in Week 23 of the English League at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday (1/18).
Appearing dominant in front of the public itself, Man City actually left first in the first round. It was Chenk Tosun who broke the deadlock.
Starting from the corner kick, Gary Cahill managed to win a duel in the air and provide feedback to the left side of the goal that can be completed with a Tosun header.
City actually has a series of golden opportunities to score goals in the first round. One of them was through a close range shot by Sergio Aguero in the 15th minute, but was still able to be blocked by goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.
City coach Pep Guardiola tried to add explosive power by entering Gabriel Jesus and pulling out David Silva early in the second half.
Attacking midfielder Riyad Mahrez was revealed to replace Bernardo Silva in the 73rd minute. However, the visitors’ defense meeting could not be penetrated until the 80th minute.
City only managed to equalize the score through Sergio Aguero in the 82nd minute. The Argentine striker successfully succeeded in received crossing from Gabriel Jesus.
Five minutes later, Aguero caused the Etihad public to rumble through a measured header from Benjamin Mendy’s cross.
However, the drama took place at Etihad after Palace was able to equalize 2-2 in the 90th minute. Fernandinho failed to anticipate a horizontal cross from Zaha and bear an own goal. The draw lasts until the fight is over.
“This is a tight match, and unfortunately we cannot win it,” City coach Josep Guardiola told the BBC.
Guardiola also revealed the team talk that was carried out during the match break. He insisted that City failed to win because of bad luck.
“I told them to keep trying. Send the ball to the penalty box and try to control Zaha during the counter-attack,” Guardiola said.
“It is difficult to do analysis when they open fire to a corner, do not have other opportunities and we often do it and unfortunately do not win. We go game after game,” he added.
“We worked very hard in the last 25 minutes so we could score two goals to win the match. But the reality is different, we must continue to focus because the match is not over,” Jesus said on the club’s official website.
“Nobody is happy in the dressing room because we know we create more opportunities. We know that we play very well. Now we have to focus and work a little harder,” added Jesus.
With this draw, Manchester City still remain in second place in the Premier League standings with 48 points from 23 matches. But the difference with Liverpool at the top continues to widen, now 13 points with Liverpool still have two extra matches to play.
