Manchester City picked up their third Premier League draw of the campaign on Saturday afternoon with a 2-2 stalemate at Crystal Palace.
After getting their first league win since October during Wednesday night’s 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest, City had to come from behind twice to leave Selhurst Park with just one point.
The first half saw Erling Haaland cancel out Daniel Munoz’s early opener.
Rico Lewis did the same thing in the second period after Maxence Lacroix put the home side ahead again with 56 minutes on the clock.
Despite seeing his side fail to do what they did in midweek in terms of getting a win with a clean sheet, Pep Guardiola had a positive outlook on this latest match in the capital.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola confronts referee Rob Jones at the final whistle during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace FC an...
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
Pep Guardiola defends ‘incredible’ Man City players after Crystal Palace draw
When asked about what he made of his side’s performance at Selhurst Park, Guardiola said this to Sky Sports (via BBC Sport) in response.
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He said: “Really good. So proud of the team. I liked everything of the team, how we fought. We have a lot of problems with our squad. We fought incredible. We came back twice.
“It’s a difficult place to come. We struggled in the beginning. We gave everything and we take a point. Long balls, second balls, they’re stronger than us. We started the second half a bit sloppy. After 2-1 we reacted well.
“We lost another player defensively for the next game for a second yellow card.”
Man City vs Crystal Palace – stats
City headed into this match in South London with several figures of their squad missing such as Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji – who both picked up injuries during the midweek win against Forest.
Despite having 68% possession, City still managed to register the same number of attempts at goal as Palace (12).
Stats Crystal Palace Manchester City
Possession 32% 68%
Total Shots 12 12
Passes 324 709
Tackles 17 13
Fouls 4 10
Corners 6 8
Goalkeeper Saves 2 1
While Guardiola has every right to be pleased with his players in the way they managed to come from behind twice to avoid walking away from Selhurst Park empty-handed, there will undoubtedly be City fans who will be getting frustrated at seeing their side concede more goals and not beat a side near the relegation zone.
With City’s next league game seeing them take on their close rivals Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium next weekend, this will undoubtedly be a vital match that everyone connected with the Blues will be desperate to win.
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