Guardiola blames the grass after Crystal Palace frustrate Man City again in EPL title race twist

In another dramatic twist to the Premier League title race, leaders Manchester City were held to a 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace on Monday. The Eagles are just the second team to stop Pep Guardiola's side from scoring both home and away in a league season, after Manchester United in 2020-21.

With Liverpool having cut the gap to three points with their win at Brighton on Saturday, the onus was on the defending champions to respond. The Sky Blues dominated the first half at Selhurst Park but struggled to find a breakthrough. The post was rattled in the opening period by Joao Cancelo and again in the second half by Kevin de Bruyne as the visitors were left frustrated time and again.

Pep Guardiola's men tried everything possible against Patrick Viera's side but could not find a winner as they dropped two valuable points in their bid to make it four league titles in the last five seasons. 

The last side to stop Man City from scoring in Premier League was Crystal Palace in October, and another shutout was looking more likely as chances continued to come and go for the Sky Blues.

Only Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea have taken more points off Guardiola than Palace since he arrived on these shores six years ago.

The stalemate means Jurgen Klopp's men can close to within one point of City if they win their game in hand against Arsenal on Wednesday, raising expectations the title race will go right to the wire.

Following the draw, Manchester City boss Guardiola praised his side's performance but complained about the state of the pitch at Selhurst Park.

"I think they [Palace] played good. There are still many games to play, we have to win a lot of games, but the way we played, there are no regrets about the team," the Spaniard told Sky Sports.

"We would have preferred to win, of course, but the game was well played. We played to win the game. We created more. The stats were there. The way we played was amazing in a difficult stadium with the grass not perfect, we were there all the time, we had a good game," Guardiola concluded.

Meanwhile, Bernardo Silva insisted Man City are still in the driving seat, despite Liverpool closing the gap to a point. 

"It was a tough game. We actually played well. We controlled the game apart from one or two times. We couldn't score, and we should've scored," the midfielder said.

"Nine games to go, but it's still better to be in our position than in Liverpool's, and they have to play in our stadium, so it's going to be exciting," Silva added.

"It's never easy to play at any team away in the Premier League. It's always better to win than draw, and we wanted to have an advantage of six points over Liverpool," he concluded.

The influence of Liverpool's new signing Luis Diaz has helped them get back in contention, with even more options in attack, along with eight consecutive wins in the league to put them right back in contention. Jurgen Klopp now has the likes of Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, and Diogo Jota at his disposal. 

Despite that, Gary Neville insists Manchester City still have the advantage in the Premier League title race.

"I wouldn't say it's 50/50. Man City does just edge it. But Liverpool has got five players up front who are an absolute joke. And Diaz, I saw him for the first time live at the Carabao Cup final, and I couldn't believe what I was watching for a player who had just entered English football. He's absolutely sensational," Neville told Sky Sports.