Topics: Premier League, Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Liverpool
The fate of the Citizens is in their hands with the title now there for Liverpool's taking as well.

Manchester City's quest to win back-to-back Premier League titles hit another snag with Monday night's clash with Crystal Palace producing an unfavorable result. The Citizens' trip to Selhurst Park resulted in a disappointing 0-0 draw, an outcome which has now left rivals Liverpool within four points of what they have accumulated so far this season.

A win over Palace would have given the defending champions the chance to extend their lead to six points with nine gameweeks left of the season to play. Instead, they were left to rue missed opportunities as Patrick Viera's side extended their unbeaten game streak in the competition to four. Indeed, it was not due to the lack of trying on the part of the Manchester club as their persistence will see Joao Cancelo and Kevin De Bruyne hitting the goalpost on two separate occasions.

In the course of the game, Bernardo Silva also fluffed his lines after De Bruyne's shot was saved, while Aymeric Laporte produced a terrible miss by firing a shot over the bar in front of an open goal. With a mixture of ill-luck and Palace's stiff resistance, Pep Guardiola's side exited London with just a point despite having dispatched 18 shots. They also made 46 touches in the opposition box to compliment the 74 per cent possession they enjoyed.

With the Premier League already at its business end, Man City could see their lead cut down to just one point should Liverpool defeat Arsenal in their game in-hand. Following the end of the game at Palace, Guardiola reflected on the draw. "There's still nine games and a lot of points," he told Sky Sports.

"In general, we did a really good game. We have five or six days before we play in the FA Cup against Southampton but there is little to say to them. We did everything we could to win today. It was an incredible effort from Crystal Palace who played very well.

"Now we have four points [clear at the top] and one game more. In the international break we are still going to be leaders and we play to win. It was difficult to control the physicality they had and we had a lot of chances to win but we couldn't score.

"I thought about making changes, but they were playing well. The guys had the ability to score goals but, in the end, with the emotion and their people, we couldn't.

"We created more, conceded few, the stats are there. The way we played was amazing in a difficult stadium where the grass was not perfect. We had a good game. We have to win a lot of games. I have no regrets how we played.

"We don't need to draw here to know it [how tough it is to win the Premier League]."

Pos.TeamMPWDLGFGAGDPForm
1 Manchester City 32 22 7 3 76 32 +44 73 WWWDD
2 Arsenal 32 22 5 5 75 26 +49 71 LWWDW
3 Liverpool 32 21 8 3 72 31 +41 71 LDWWD
4 Aston Villa 33 19 6 8 68 49 +19 63 WDLWD
5 Tottenham Hotspur 32 18 6 8 65 49 +16 60 LWDWL
6 Newcastle United 32 15 5 12 69 52 +17 50 WWDWL
7 Manchester United 32 15 5 12 47 48 -1 50 DDLDW
8 West Ham United 33 13 9 11 52 58 -6 48 LWDLD
9 Chelsea 31 13 8 10 61 52 +9 47 WDWDW
10 Brighton & Hove Albion 32 11 11 10 52 50 +2 44 DLDLW
11 Wolverhampton Wanderers 32 12 7 13 46 51 -5 43 DLDLW
12 Fulham 33 12 6 15 49 51 -2 42 WLLDW
13 AFC Bournemouth 32 11 9 12 47 57 -10 42 DLWWW
14 Crystal Palace 32 8 9 15 37 54 -17 33 WLLDD
15 Brentford 33 8 8 17 47 58 -11 32 WDDDL
16 Everton 32 9 8 15 32 48 -16 27 LWDLL
17 Nottingham Forest 33 7 9 17 42 58 -16 26 DLWDD
18 Luton Town 33 6 7 20 46 70 -24 25 LWLLD
19 Burnley 33 4 8 21 33 68 -35 20 DLDDW
20 Sheffield United 32 3 7 22 30 84 -54 16 LDLDD

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