Following a treble-winning season, Manchester City are struggling to maintain their high standards after drawing 2-2 with Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday. Pep Guardiola’s men let a comfortable 2-0 lead slip away as Phil Foden conceded a penalty in stoppage time that Michael Olise would bury to secure a critical point for Palace as they look the stay away from the relegation zone.
Without Erllng Haaland available, Guardiola deployed a standard lineup that outshot Crystal Palace 19 to five but despite Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis finding the back of the net, City wavered after Jean-Phillipe Mateta clawed one back in the 76th minute. Mistakes have come back to hurt City in a big way and they’ve now failed to win five of their previous six matches with the only win coming over recently promoted Luton Town.
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This opens the door for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool to take a six-point lead in the Premier League if they’re able to defeat Manchester United on Sunday, which is quite a mountain for Manchester City to climb. At one point the title felt like City’s to lose without Kevin De Bruyne and Haaland, that inevitability surrounding City is beginning to fade. Their previous draws were to Tottenham, Liverpool, and Chelsea before losing to Aston Villa, which is a very different proposition than dropping points to Crystal Palace.
Heading to Saudi Arabia for the Club World Cup, the matches won’t slow for City as they enter a festive period that could define their season. After the Club World Cup, City will face Everton, Sheffield United, Newcastle United, Burnley, and Brentford but while those should be winnable matches, the fact that City is fourth in the Premier League means that quite a few variables are now out of their control.
Last season, City were able to overcome an eight-point lead that Arsenal held as of January 18th, but to do that, Arsenal had to go winless for three matches. With Liverpool now leading the way, and Arsenal having learned from that experience to become a stronger side this season, if City’s deficit grows to be that much this season, it’s hard to see them having as easy a time overcoming it.
“We create more, we concede few, less, nothing and we are not able to win games,” Guardiola said following the match. “Happened here against Spurs, happened here against Liverpool, and now here today.”
With City only conceding just over a goal per game this season, Guardiola’s assessment of his defense is right, but the little moments have hurt them. Those moments might be too much for them to overcome if they have to chase down two, or even three teams for the title instead of one like last season. Every moment is bigger. It’s not that’ there’s an overarching issue with City as much as it is that the chasing pack improved more than City did during the summer, and Liverpool are healthier than they were at this point last season.
Put it all together and we could be in for quite a title race.
