“Lost Another Player” – Pep Guardiola Addresses New Man City Blow and Makes Fresh Liverpool Title Race Claim

Manchester City were held to a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace, leaving them eight points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Pep Guardiola has emphasised that Manchester City cannot focus on the Premier League title race at this stage. Instead, he urged the team to assess their position in the title contention only at the season’s conclusion.

City’s challenging run of form persisted as they struggled to a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace. The reigning champions had to fight back twice, with Erling Haaland and Rico Lewis scoring the goals in south London.

City had a golden opportunity to put pressure on Liverpool after the Merseyside derby against Everton was postponed earlier in the day due to safety concerns stemming from Storm Darragh.

However, they failed to capitalise on it and have now collected only four points from their last six league matches. Currently sitting eight points behind Arne Slot’s Liverpool, who hold a game in hand, the Etihad side’s hopes of retaining their title have taken a hit.

Guardiola was asked after the draw with Crystal Palace whether the deficit at the top is too much to claw back. The Spaniard didn’t exactly sound confident. “Yes. Always who is first is ­favourites, second is Chelsea, third is Arsenal and we are third,” the manager said.

Speaking to BBC Sport, City manager Guardiola said: “We take a point. We fought incredible 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.”

Manchester City have faced significant injury challenges this season, with Phil Foden, Manuel Akanji, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Rodri, Mateus Kovacic, and Oscar Bobb unavailable for the match against Crystal Palace.

Adding to their woes, Rico Lewis will be unavailable for next weekend’s derby against Manchester United after receiving a red card at Selhurst Park for two bookable offenses.

“We struggled in the beginning. We gave everything and we take a point,” Guardiola added to Sky Sports. “Long balls, second balls, they’re stronger than us.

“We started the second half a bit sloppy. After 2-1 we reacted well. We lost another player defensively for the next game for a second yellow card.”

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