LONDON: Fernandinho’s late own goal forced Manchester City to settle for a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.
At the Etihad Stadium, Fernandinho’s last-gasp blunder left manager Pep Guardiola in no mood to party after City’s faint hopes of retaining the title suffered another hammer blow.
“Despite two late @aguerosergiokun goals, we have to settle for a point,” the club tweeted.
“We played similar to the way we did at Villa with @benmendy23 attacking down the left and players in the middle. We struggled a little for the first 10 mins of the second half but then I think we did everything. Palace didn’t do much but they got a point,” Guardiola was quoted on the club’s twitter handle.
The champions trail Liverpool by 13 points ahead of the runaway leaders’ clash with rivals Manchester United on Sunday.
Palace won the corresponding fixture at the Etihad Stadium last season and the south Londoners took a shock lead in the 39th minute.
Cenk Tosun marked his first league start since his loan move from Everton with his maiden goal for the Eagles, the Turkish striker netting a close-range strike from Martin Kelly’s flick.
Sergio Aguero appeared to have turned the game on its head in the 82nd minute when the Argentine striker turned in Gabriel Jesus’s cross for his 250th goal in 360 games for the club.
Aguero put City ahead in the 87th minute with a typically predatory header from Benjamin Mendy’s cross.
But there was a sting in the tale for Guardiola as Fernandinho turned Wilfried Zaha’s cross into his own net in the 90th minute to end second-placed City’s run of three successive league wins.
In anoother match, pitchside VAR monitor was used in the Premier League for the first time at Norwich and Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw by Sheffield United.
