Liverpool and Manchester City are in another title stare-down - and it was the Blues who blinked first in a scrappy, nervous, misfiring performance at Crystal Palace. Selhurst Park played a big role in the first of the great trilogy of title contests between the two most modern of rivals, when Palace stormed back from 3-0 down to thwart Liverpool in 2014 and open it up for City to take the honours.
This was nowhere near as deadly a result for the Blues - the point means they will still be top of the table even if Jurgen Klopp’s team pulls off a win when they play their game in hand against in-form Arsenal on Wednesday night. But after the effortless class in the way they disposed of Manchester United last week, it will be the dip in standard that alarms Pep Guardiola most.
There was a slowness to much of City’s build-up that is not like them, and a sloppiness at other times, and when their relentless pressure did result in chances, they were met with a mixture of bad luck - as Joao Cancelo and Kevin De Bruyne both hit the post - and wayward finishing. The City fans who made the long haul trip to south London on another ridiculous Monday night fixture were unusually nervous about this game.
ALSO READ: Man City player ratings
Maybe it was the memory of the part Palace played in the title race in 2014 when they upset Liverpool’s apple-cart and opened it up for City to sprint over the line. Maybe it was the fact that Liverpool just keep closing that gap, and it was a case of who blinks first will blow the league.
Or maybe it was a memory of just how well Palace exploited City’s vulnerability to counter-attacks, and nullified their attacking advantages, when they won 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium in October. Whatever it was, it seemed to seep from the away end and into the bones of the Blues players in a nervy, misfiring first half.
It was a re-run of that Manchester meeting of these two in that opening spell, with the Blues having three-quarters of the possession without ever looking convincing, while Palace marauded around Aymeric Laporte and Kyle Walker, waiting for errors. They got them too, Laporte reprised his gift of possession that handed Wilfried Zaha the opening goal in October by coughing it up to Jean-Philippe Mateta - who fed Zaha, but this time the City defence recovered to snuff out the danger.
Meanwhile at the other end, City were pushing forward with a mixture of wayward passing and dodgy finishing. After all the chatter about Erling Haaland coming to City in the summer at the weekend, it was inevitable that the Blues would create, and miss, a fair few opportunities.
Palace defended doggedly but they survived when Kevin De Bruyne’s harmless, desperate shot bounced back off keeper Vicente Guaita’s chest straight to Bernardo Silva. It looked a formality for him to fire it back past the guilty keeper, but instead he feinted, tried to take it round the keeper, got his touch all wrong and ran it out of play.
City were reduced to shooting from distance, John Stones seeing one effort deflect inches past the post and Joao Cancelo cracking a 30-yarder against the post - the ball flashing back hard at Laporte who, taken by surprise, fired it back over the bar. The “it’s going to be one of those nights” brigade were in full cry on social media, and they had a point, especially when Mahrez, so lethal of late, had time to set himself on that left foot when Jack Grealish’s cross weaved its way through a packed area, but hammered his shot straight at Guaita.
Another Mahrez effort flew wide of the post, bringing a stream of invective from the Algeria international, and another head-in-hands moment for Pep Guardiola. For all their possession and wasted chances, City had not played like champions, and it was one of those games where Phil Foden looked wasted in the false nine role - he barely touched the ball in the first half.
The Blues stepped up a gear in the second half and when Grealish slipped a pass to De Bruyne, the woodwork again denied them - and the rebound was crashed goalwards by Mahrez’s right foot, normally for standing, only for Guaita to instinctively turn it over the bar.
The frustration was growing and Palace, clinging grimly to the goalless scoreline, cranked that annoyance up a level with some timewasting tactics that saw Rodri angrily trying to pick up Cheikhou Kayate as he rolled round following an innocuous challenge.
De Bruyne, the only man who seemed to have a clear head in a muggy City performance, urged his teammates to calm down and focus on the game.
They didn’t, and rather than wearing down the opposition, it was the Blues who looked ragged and tired by the end as Palace grew in confidence and almost snatched it with a late Connor Gallagher effort.
Sign up to our City newsletter so you never miss an update from the Etihad Stadium this season.
Catch up on all the latest Blues headlines in our Man City section
