No victor no vanquished as Olise denies Man City victory
Manchester City’s stuttering title defence suffered another blow as Michael Olise’s 95th-minute penalty rescued a dramatic point for Crystal Palace.
City had led 2-0 through goals by Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis and appeared to be cruising to victory until Jean-Philippe Mateta pulled a goal back with 14 minutes remaining.
There was more drama to come in stoppage time, when Phil Foden caught Mateta as he attempted to clear and referee Paul Tierney pointed to the spot.
Michael Olise stepped up to slot past Ederson and spark wild celebration among the away fans who had seen their team pegged back for much of the match.
The draw, City’s third consecutive at home, leaves the defending champions in fourth place, three points behind leaders Liverpool.
Palace have still only won one of their past 10 games but after losing out to a stoppage-time goal by Liverpool last week, this must have felt like a victory for Roy Hodgson’s men, and was certainly celebrated like one.
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Jack Grealish’s first goal of the season did not arrive until he found the net against Tottenham on 3 December but he has now scored in three consecutive Premier League games for the first time in his career
City have now won only one of their past six league games, and face losing more ground next week when they are in Saudi Arabia for the Fifa Club World Cup.
Once again, they paid the price for failing to finish off their opponents, although few saw this latest setback coming when they led 2-0.
Pep Guardiola’s side appeared in full control for much of the game, although they had to be patient to find a gap in Palace’s packed defence.
The breakthrough came when Foden found space on the edge of the area and slipped Grealish clear to find the net, with the goal eventually given after a lengthy video assistant referee check for offside.
Josko Gvardiol could have added an instant second, but was denied by Dean Henderson after running clear, and there was more frustration for City at the start of the second half when they had a goal disallowed for Rodri’s offside after Julian Alvarez’s free-kick flew straight in.
Their second goal did arrive shortly afterwards, with Foden and Grealish combining before Lewis slotted home, but even that cushion was not enough to prevent Palace’s unlikely comeback.
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Palace’s experience last week means they know only too well the agony of conceding a crucial late goal but this time their emotions were all about elation.
The Eagles were missing most of their regular frontline because of injury, and had offered little other than sporadic breaks forward for much of the match but they did give City a warning of what was to come when Gvardiol’s slip allowed Mateta to run clear on the stroke of half-time.