Man City are not thinking of title chase amid poor form, says Pep Guardiola
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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola argues with the referee after the 2-2 Premier League draw with Crystal Palace.
PHOTO: AFP
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LONDON – Manchester City cannot think about winning a fifth consecutive English Premier League title, manager Pep Guardiola said, with his team mired in a run of poor performances.
City had to settle for a point in a 2-2 draw with lowly Crystal Palace on Dec 7, twice coming back from a goal down and losing Rico Lewis to a red card late in the game, to remain fourth in the standings, eight points behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.
“We take a point. We fought incredible and came back twice. It’s a season to suffer. We’ll see what happens in the last month,” the City boss said.
“We cannot talk about the title race when we lose four games in a row and draw (with just one win amid that six-match run). We’ll try to recover players.”
Lewis and Erling Haaland scored in the draw that had Guardiola speaking with pride about his players’ resilience, with his slumping side still missing a number of key players through injury and illness.
“We have many important players injured – many players with many minutes but the physicality is there.
“We did everything we could to win, and I am so pleased and proud of the players,” the Spaniard added.
Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake were the latest to join City’s list of absentees, both sidelined after injuries suffered in their 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Dec 4. Phil Foden sat out his second successive game with bronchitis.
The team have now failed to win for the eighth time in nine games in all competitions.
City had the chance to go second in the Premier League but failed to build on their midweek victory over Forest, which had appeared to stop the rot for the English champions.
Guardiola’s men got off to the worst possible start at Selhurst Park, when Daniel Munoz raced on to Will Hughes’ pass to fire Palace in front after four minutes.
Haaland’s towering header from Matheus Nunes’ cross brought City back level and took the Norwegian level with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah on 13 Premier League goals in the battle for the Golden Boot.
The visitors started the second half strongly but were hit with a sucker punch when Maxence Lacroix powered home Hughes’ corner.
Lewis found the top corner to level once more for City, but was then sent off six minutes from time for a second yellow.
The draw, however, felt like a loss in their chances of remaining in the title fight.
“With Man City it’s always two points lost,” City midfielder Bernardo Silva said.
“One point is better than zero but we’re not happy at the moment. We know our situation with injuries. Coming to Crystal Palace is never easy but we have to do better.
“When I finish a game and I get a point I’m not happy. It’s not the way we built this team, it’s not our standard.
“We’re in December. We’d like to be in a different position. If we recover our players quickly we can always do it. But right now our concern is a different one.”
REUTERS, AFP
