**Manchester City**’s title hopes came to an end after a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth meant they can no longer catch Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.
A terrific Junior Kroupi strike put the European football-chasing Cherries ahead in the first half, with the Vitality Stadium keen to give the departing Andoni Iraola a special send-off at home.
With their title challenge on the line, **Erling Haaland**’s stoppage time equaliser wasn’t enough as time slipped away from a desperate City.
Below, VAVEL have rated the City players’ performances on the south coast.
Manchester City Player Ratings
Gianluigi Donnarumma - 7
The Italian had no chance of keeping out Kroupi’s incredible strike. Otherwise, he was a safe pair of hands, keeping out Evanilson and Rayan early in the second half, before crucially being on hand to deny David Brooks at the death.
Matheus Nunes - 7
As he has all season long, Nunes battled well on the right and looked after the ball well. Adrien Truffert did have more joy down that flank than the Portuguese would have liked, however.
Abdukodir Khusanov - 6.5
While Kroupi’s goal was very easy on the eye, any fingers pointed by the visiting camp will go to the defence for not closing him down quick enough, with Khusanov the primary culprit. Otherwise, the Uzbek was solid enough both on and off the ball.
Marc Guehi - 7
Endured a real physical battle with Evanilson but came out on top more often than not. Guehi cut a frustrated figure in the City defence. While there were no major blemishes on his part, it was not their night.
Nico O’Reilly - 6.5
In a scrappy match, the England international wasn’t quite as tidy as usual. He also squandered a huge chance early in the second half. However, he didn’t let Rayan cause him too much trouble.
Rodri - 5.5
While the same can be said for the majority of the team, Rodri was uncharacteristically sloppy. Like Guehi, he was visibly annoyed by how his team were playing.
Despite hitting the post late on, as he threw himself about to will the ball goal-ward, he didn’t help their case, making cheap fouls and loose touches.
Mateo Kovacic - 5.5
Giving the Croatian his first league start of the campaign was a bold call by Pep Guardiola and it didn’t pay off. While he, with varying success, tried the incisive passes we’ve become accustomed to seeing him produce, the way he drove forward into the Bournemouth press was akin to a bull in a china shop.
Bernardo Silva - 6
Looked after the ball well in the final third but seemed to struggle as the team lacked real coherence, and didn’t appear to enjoy being its most advanced midfielder, having played a deeper role for so long.
Antoine Semenyo - 6
Created a chance early on and threatened to cause problems with his footwork on the right, but ultimately his former employers kept him quiet, with Truffert impressing once more up against him.
Erling Haaland - 7 (MOTM)
Lacked real service all night so had to drop deep to good effect. That O’Reilly chance was created by him, and in the end he got his goal with a very well-taken drive through a crowd of bodies. The Norwegian has now scored 27 goals in this league campaign; it’s a bit ridiculous how normalised that’s become.
Jeremy Doku - 6.5
Rather than his displays against Everton and Brentford, this Doku performance had more similarities to that of his against Chelsea at Wembley at the weekend. Adam Smith kept him quiet for the most part, although he did threaten on occasion, having City’s first chance, while facilitating play better than some of his fellow attackers.
Substitutes:
Phil Foden - 6
Another fairly encouraging Foden cameo, providing a bit of impetus and drive in midfield.
Rayan Cherki - 6
Promised to change the game when he came on, but lacked the space to have any real effect; credit to Bournemouth.
Savinho - 6.5
A very bright glimpse of what the Brazilian can do, and while most of his football for City has come on the right wing, many would argue he has shown more promise on the left, as he did tonight. He worked the space well on that flank and delivered a couple of dangerous crosses.
Omar Marmoush - N/A