With just one win in their last nine games in all competitions, Pep Guardiola has admitted Manchester City cannot think about winning a fifth successive Premier League title.
The reigning English champions were forced to a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace, after coming back twice from a losing position as Rico Lewis also received a red card late in the contest to remain fourth on the log.
“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 months,” Guardiola said.
“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.”
Lewis and Erling Haaland netted in the draw that had Guardiola voicing his pride about his players’ resilience with his side still without a number of key players through injury and illness.
“We have many important players injured – many players with many minutes but the physicality is there – but we were there, and we did everything we could to win, and I am so pleased and proud of the players,” the Spaniard added.
Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake were the latest to join City’s list of absentees, both on the sidelines after injuries suffered in their 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Wednesday. Phil Foden also sat out his second consecutive game with bronchitis.
The draw, however, felt like a loss in City’s chances of remaining in the title race.
“With Man City it’s always two points lost,” City midfielder Bernardo Silva said.
“One point is better than zero but we’re not happy at the moment. We know our situation with injuries. Coming to Crystal Palace is never easy but we have to do better.
“When I finish a game and I get a point I’m not happy. It’s not the way we built this team, it’s not our standard. We’re in December. We’d like to be in a different position. If we recover our players quickly we can always do it. But right now our concern is a different one.
“If we’re fourth or fifth we have to look at winning the next game. The last month and a half have not been good enough.”
