Manchester City dropped points at Selhurst Park and Liverpool will have another opportunity to distance themselves in the title race
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Pep Guardiola
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
Manchester City are far from having an ideal season, having dropped points at Crystal Palace - and Pep Guardiola's frustration was clear at full-time. Liverpool will not be in action this weekend after the Merseyside Derby was called off due to Storm Darragh.
Nonetheless, Arne Slot's side will have another opportunity to distance themselves even further in the table after the 2-0 win over their title rivals, City last weekend. At Selhurst Park, Palace took the lead through Daniel Munoz inside four minutes before Erling Haaland responded with an equaliser in the 30th minute.
Although the hosts then retook the lead after the break, Rico Lewis netted the equaliser before his afternoon turned sour. He was sent off six minutes from time for the accumulation of yellow cards and will miss the Manchester Derby on December 15.
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At full-time, Guardiola made his discontent known to the referee Rob Jones. City were breaking away with Jeremy Doku sprinting up the pitch on a late counterattack when Jones blew the whistle.
Although Doku was in his own half, Guardiola still made his feelings clear. After having his say, he stormed back to the dressing room with just a brief nod to the away end.
In a series of short, blunt answers, he simply said of his full-time actions: "Sometimes I go to the pitch, sometimes I go direct to the locker room."
Guardiola did go on to praise City's fight, pointing to the red card as the moment their bid for a winner lost its momentum. He said: "How we played last 15, 16 minutes was 10 vs 11. We have seven potential starting XI injured," he explained. "A lot of players with minutes, the physicality with Crystal Palace is there. We were there and we did everything to try to win. I am really proud and pleased for the players.
"The effort from Gundogan and Bernardo was unbelievable. Both wingers were really good. We need fresh legs in that position, Jeremy [Doku] comes from a long injury and played 90 minutes. Jack [Grealish] yesterday feels niggles, discomfort and comes from long injury. I had the feeling at 2-2 we were there. Unfortunately we could not finish with 11."