NEW YEAR HANGOVER FOR MAN CITY

Winning run ends with draw at Palace

LONDON

EDERSON’S last-gasp penalty heroics saved Manchester City from defeat but a 0-0 stalemate at Crystal Palace yesterday brought the Premier League leaders’ record-breaking 18match winning run to an end.

Luka Milivojevic was presented with the chance to seal a memorable victory for Roy Hodgson’s relegation-threatened side when Wilfried Zaha was brought down by Raheem Sterling in injury time.

But the Palace midfielder struck his spot-kick too close to Ederson, allowing the City goalkeeper to preserve his side’s 21game unbeaten start to the league campaign.

City’s failure to score in a league game for the first time since last April meant they fell short in their bid to equal Bayern Munich 19game winning run of four years ago, the longest in Europe’s five major leagues, set under their current boss Pep Guardiola.

And City’s afternoon was further soured when Kevin De Bruyne was stretchered off immediately after the spot-kick following an ugly challenge by Palace substitute Jason Puncheon.

Guardiola, who also said forward Gabriel Jesus was likely to be out for up to two months after an injury early in the game, called for referees to take firm action.

“Please, referees, they have to protect players,” he said. “We were lucky against Tottenham and against Newcastle. Today we were not lucky.

“Referees have to protect. We know how strong physically it is England but teams miss big players, not just Manchester City. The replay speaks for itself. We have to protect players.”

Hodgson claimed before the game there was “no magic formula” to competing with City, insisting his Palace side’s hopes of getting something from the game hinged on working hard and defending well while maintaining an attacking threat.

And while Palace were unable to carve out many clear chances at the other end, Zaha was a constant threat down the Palace left, frequently getting the better of City right-back Kyle Walker.

An animated conversation between De Bruyne and Sane confirmed the sense that City were growing increasingly uncomfortable.

Palace found it far harder to be as expansive after the restart, when City finally began to move through the gears.

But Hennessey proved equal to the task, blocking Leroy Sane’s close-range volley at the far post and denying De Bruyne as City struggled to find openings in a well-drilled Palace backline.

And they should have entered the final 14 minutes of the game needing a goal to get back on level terms after Andros Townsend missed the home side’s best chance of the half before Milivojevic was handed his late opportunity to clinch the points. AFP