Manchester City, who ended a six-game unbeaten run in all competitions last weekend, lost points at Crystal Palace after drawing 2-2
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Pep Guardiola
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola(Image: Offside via Getty Images)
Pep Guardiola admits it's a season to suffer for Manchester City but has not given up hope on the Premier League title. The reigning champions had the opportunity to close the gap to Liverpool after the Merseyside Derby was postponed because of Storm Darragh.
Instead, they drew 2-2 at Crystal Palace and Rico Lewis received his marching orders, meaning he will miss the Manchester Derby. The hosts scored the opening goal through Daniel Munoz inside four minutes before Erling Haaland responded with an equaliser in the 30th minute.
Palace retook the lead shortly after the break and Lewis netted the equaliser. But City were unable to come away with the three points after going down to ten men in the final minutes of the game.
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Guardiola's frustration was clear at full-time when he walked over to referee Rob Jones. The referee blew the whistle when Jeremy Doku sprinted up the pitch in a late counterattack, though he was still on his own half.
Asked if his team were tired, he just replied: "No," before adding his views on the title race. "It’s a season to survive. We cannot talk about the title race when we lose four games in a row and draw," he said.
"We take a point. We fought incredibly and came back twice. It’s a season to suffer. We’ll see what happens in the last month. We tried. Big compliment for the opponent. We cannot talk about the title race when we lose four games in a row and draw.
"We’ll try to recover players. We’ll see in the last month. We have to do more games to be consistent. It’s difficult in the situation we have. I’m really pleased for the players - they fought and did everything."
Liverpool are currently eight points clear from City but that lead could be extended by 11 points with a win over Everton when their game in hand is eventually played.