London (Archyde.com)
Leaders Manchester City drew 0-0 at Crystal Palace, opening the door for rivals Liverpool to compete strongly for the English Premier League title.
Second-placed Liverpool reduced the difference to three points following beating Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, achieving their eighth victory in a row to continue to put pressure on the leaders.
And City managed to dominate the first half in the hospitality of Palace at Selhurst Park, but without finding the net.
City defender Joao Cancelo hit the post in the first half, and midfielder Kevin De Bruyne did the same following the break.
Pep Guardiola’s team pushed with all his attacking force near the end, but he failed to score, wasting two valuable points in his quest to win the league title for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
After this tie, Liverpool can reduce the difference to one point if they win the postponed match once morest Arsenal on Wednesday.
“There is no place for luck in football,” Guardiola told the BBC. We should score goals, we didn’t.
We play to score goals and concede a little. We suffered quite a bit. The team that played today has already played and will play the next match. I am completely satisfied with the performance and our style of play.
City imposed complete control of the match in south London, and created a large number of easy chances, the most dangerous of which was Bernardo Silva in the second half.
City defender Aymeric Laporte missed a chance from close range, following he followed Cancelo’s shot from the post.
Palace also made a dangerous counter-attack, and Wilfried Zaha shot wide from close range, but except for that, City was the most dangerous and had 14 attempts on goal in the first half.
Palace were the last team to prevent City from scoring in the Premier League when they did it in October, and they have repeated that day.
De Bruyne came close to scoring following receiving a pass inside the area, and hit a powerful ball from the left side, but it bounced off the post. Riyad Mahrez followed the ball and hit it hard, but goalkeeper Vicente Guaita kept it away.
Silva almost scored following a low cross, but arrived a little late to miss a chance from the goal line.
Palace survived without conceding until the end, extending its unbeaten record in five consecutive matches in all competitions, to remain in 11th place in the Premier League, but this result will surely please Liverpool fans more than any other team.
“When you play once morest City, you have to take chances,” Palace coach Patrick Vieira said. It’s regarding being lucky on this day, but also playing hard as a team.
He added: We did it today. We fought for luck and got a point. We are pleased with the performance.