Pep Guardiola praised the efforts of Crystal Palace as his Manchester City side’s record run of victories came to an end on Sunday after a goalless draw at Selhurst Park.
A frustrating day for the league leaders could have ended much worse had Palace converted a 91st-minute penalty — Luka Milivojevic hit his spot-kick straight at goalkeeper Ederson after Wilfred Zaha was adjudged to have been pushed in the box by Raheem Sterling.
After 18 straight Premier League wins, the stalemate marked the first time since a 1-1 draw against Everton in August that City had not picked up maximum points. Pep Guardiola’s side had 75 percent of the possession during the game but were unable to break down a committed and organized Palace defense.
“You have to give Crystal Palace credit, big credit to Palace. The first half, we have action, they have action. In the second half it was much better. It was a deserved point for both teams and now we focus on the next one,” the City boss said. “Of course we never give up and Crystal Palace fought hard but in the last period it was tough and we played well. We spoke many times about how they would play.
“At the end, keeper Ederson helped us to keep one point. Maybe it was a penalty, the referee made that decision so that is OK. On Tuesday we have another game, so during the good moments you have to react in the best way,” he added.
Palace manager Roy Hodgson was delighted with the point, but rued the penalty miss as a golden opportunity to win the game. “I was very proud of the performance. We know how to play against a team with Man City’s quality and organization, but our discipline was very good and we tried to make the best of the attacking opportunities. There were chances throughout the course of the game.
“It was an excellent point and before the game we would have been jumping through hoops with a point, but when you get a penalty late in the game and you miss like we have before there is an element of sadness,” he said.
Despite dominating the match, City were unable to break Palace’s resistance, with the visitors only managing four shots on target all game. It was an uncharacteristically lacklustre performance from the runaway leaders who lacked the clinical edge seen during their remarkable run of wins in recent months.
The home side had looked to hit Guardiola’s team on the break in the early stages, going close after a quarter of an hour from a Patrick van Aanholt strike from outside the box, but had to deal with the loss of their inspirational defender Scott Dann who was stretchered off within the first 20 minutes.
City came back into the match on the half-hour mark, the substitute Sergio Aguero — on for the injured Gabriel Jesus, who will be out for “one or two months” according to Guardiola — hitting the woodwork with a deflected shot. It was a brief highlight for the visitors in what was a tight and attritional first half.
So often the drivers of City’s creativity this season, both Kevin de Bruyne and Leroy Sane had poor games, which prompted Guardiola to bring on Sterling early in the second half.
But the visitors were unable to create a chance of any real worth as the game ticked toward its conclusion, before the contentious penalty decision threw the game back into life. Sterling was penalized for a push on Palace’s Zaha and referee Jon Moss pointed to the spot. Milivojevic’s hard but straight spot-kick was saved by City’s Brazilian goalkeeper.
The afternoon got worse for Manchester City when their best player of the season, de Bruyne had to be carried off with a nasty-looking injury, having been hacked down by Palace captain Jason Puncheon.
The point, however, put City further ahead of second-placed Chelsea who are 14 points behind Guardiola’s team going into the next round of matches.