Pep Guardiola has slammed his Manchester City players for blow their two-goal advantage over Crystal Palace. Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis put the Premier League champions ahead before blowing their lead in stoppage time.
Jean-Philippe Mateta halved the deficit for Roy Hodgson’s side with a quarter of an hour left on the clock before Phil Foden conceded a penalty in the dying embers of the clash, granting the visitors the chance to equalise. Michael Olise stepped up to the plate and beat Ederson from 12-yards.
Liverpool and Arsenal now have the chance to extend their advantage over City in the Premier League title race. While the campaign is far from over, Guardiola’s side could rue falling short of the silverware-winning standards come the end of the season.
If Jurgen Klopp, Mikel Arteta and even Unai Emery each secure three more points this weekend then City could find themselves four-points adrift of third-place. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News after the Palace game, Guardiola blasted his players for their careless display.
“At the end, be patient and don’t concede transitions and don’t concede like we have done in seven or eight years in these type of games,” said the Spaniard. “But of course in the first action they run and score a goal and in the last minute we give them [a penalty].
“In the 18-yard box you have to be careful and we weren’t. We don’t deserve to win. It’s not bad luck, it’s deserved. We give away two points.
“When you give away this penalty, you deserve it. You see the chances we created and conceded it’s quite similar to all this season apart from the Chelsea game – but we are not able to close the games. That is the feeling.”
Man City can only blame themselves for all 4 draws in the last 5 rounds in the Premier League, leading with missed opportunities and then dropping 2 points/match.
If in the match with Liverpool, Man Green let Alexander-Arnold equalize in the 80th minute, in the match to welcome Tottenham, there was a punishment from Kulusevski in the 90th minute (3-3 draw).
In the big battle against Chelsea, ‘old man’ Cole Palmer forced Man City to divide the points in the 90+5 minute from the 11m mark, similar to how Pep’s team drew and lost last night.
In the last 6 matches, Man City only had 1 victory (2-1 Luton Town) in the previous round, the remaining 4 draws, 1 loss. This result really threatens the ambition of Pep Guardiola and his team to win the Premier League for the 4th consecutive time, despite being only 3 points behind leading Liverpool and playing 1 more match.