With Liverpool's game against Everton being called off, both Manchester City and Arsenal had the chance to cut the gap at the top of the Premier League table. But drawing with Crystal Palace and Fulham respectively, neither really managed it.
Chelsea moved into second spot by beating Spurs by four goals to three but Enzo Maresca's side is still four points behind Liverpool having played a game more. Arsenal is another two points behind and Manchester City another two behind the Gunners (eight off the Reds with more than a third of the campaign gone).
Pep Guardiola knows it will be very difficult to come back from here, with Jamie Carragher suggesting last week that Manchester City might even have a fight on its hands to finish inside the top four. And the Etihad outfit's boss made some honest comments this weekend.
"We have to survive the season," Guardiola said. "Every game, try to take points, to try to win games and go forward. Unfortunately (Rico Lewis, who was sent off and will now face a one-match ban) is an important player for us for the next game against Manchester United at home.
"But in general, what they have done in the circumstances is really, really good. From the beginning, everything was wrong and unlucky in many things. We have to continue with that with the players that we have at our disposal."
Injuries have hampered Manchester City but the decline is about more than just Rodri being absent. Guardiola always wants a small roster and that appears to have caught up with him while the majority of his key players are aging. There has been too much of a burden placed on the likes of Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gundogan and Mateo Kovacic.
"It will be more difficult, but that's what it is," Guardiola continued. "Maybe at the end we will have more satisfaction, in the way that we are going to (respond) to these problems, than maybe in the other seasons that we won the title.
"All teams want their players always fit and ready, and unfortunately, since the beginning, that could not happen, and it's going to be, I think, for longer. But one way or the other, we are going to try."
Liverpool.com says: Manchester City has only won one of its last nine games, losing six and shipping goals left, right and center. It very much as the feel of one of the seasons where things quickly unraveled for Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp, but Guardiola should get things back on track sufficiently to qualify for the Champions League.