Fernandin-oh!
LATE CLANGER SPOILS GUARDIOLA’S BIRTHDAY
PEP GUARDIOLA celebrated his 49th birthday yesterday but it was Roy Hodgson who was handed a gift. Sergio Aguero looked to have pinched the win for Man City with goals in the 82nd and 87th minutes.
But with the game in added time Fernandinho directed the ball into his own net to hand Palace – who opened the scoring through Cenk Tosun – a hard-fought point.
Guardiola attempted to shrug off City’s latest frustrating setback.
“I think we did everything,” he said.
“They defended so deep. We knew that, so we attacked – crosses, corners, putting the ball inside.
“They didn’t do much but they win one point.
“The spirit was there and we tried and tried. At the end we came back and it was a pity to drop two points in this way but that is football and we have to learn from these situations.”
Palace’s late leveller – which overshadowed Aguero taking his record City goal tally to 251 – came as Wilfried Zaha got the better of John Stones to cross and the ball took an unfortunate ricochet off Fernandinho.
Guardiola claimed the goal was down to a bad decision rather than a mistake.
He said: “The concentration is always there. It was just a wrong decision and we are going to solve it and improve it.
“In those positions, with the back four there, you have to not let them run. It is simple. In this situation we cannot let them counter.”
The dropped points for City mean Liverpool could move 16 points clear with a win over Man United today.
PEP GUARDIOLA’S birthday bash was wrecked by a late Palace strike which has surely finally blown the candles out on Manchester City’s title defence.
Sergio Aguero’s lightning-fast double strike seemed to have delivered the perfect present for The Etihad boss’s 49th birthday.
City had trailed to a first-half header from Everton loanee Cenk Tosun and were struggling to penetrate the Palace blockade marshalled by keeper Vicente Guaita and central defenders James Tomkins and Gary Cahill.
Then up popped Aguero in the 81st and 87th minutes to take his City haul to 251 goals. But party-poopers Palace though weren’t finished. Wilfried Zaha galloped down the left, cut in and fired in a cross aimed for Connor Wickham only for the leg of the unfortunate Fernandinho to send the ball spinning past keeper Ederson.
Palace won 3-2 last season here last season but that didn’t cause any long-term damage.
This time runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool are now 13 points ahead with two games in hand.
But there were no recriminations from the City boss, who said: “We tried
to do everything. The spirit was there. It’s a pity we dropped two points but we have to learn.
“Their second goal was a mistake. You mustn’t allow Wilfried Zaha to run and we did.”
So is the title race over?
“I’ve answered that a million times already,” said Guardiola. So that appears to be a yes then.
Palace boss Roy Hodgson said: “It would have been cruel to have lost. I am proud of our win here last season but more proud of the draw this time.”
Reduced to the odd raid in a first half completely dominated by the home side, Palace forced a corner which was executed to perfection.
In it came via James McCarthy and Gary Cahill soared above his wouldbe markers for his decisive header to find the unmarked Tosun who guided it past Ederson from six yards.
Hodgson added: “I was delighted with what I saw from Cenk today. It was a wonderful full debut.”
Palace held firm although their resistance appeared to be ready to be broken when referee Graham Scott awarded a penalty when Joao Cancelo’s fiercely-driven cross deflected off defender Jairo Riedewald’s foot and on to his hand.
VAR intervened and declared that it had been accidental.
“I don’t know the rule of handball now. It looked hands but…” said Guardiola.
City’s perseverance appeared to have paid off when Aguero rose from his slumbers in deadly style. First the advancing Benjamin Mendy found Gabriel Jesus whose cross to the far post saw the alert Argentine lunge in while others hesitated to clock up his 250th goal for the club he has graced since 2011.
Six minutes later goal No.251 arrived. Mendy was the provider with a searching cross which found Aguero unmarked and the Argentinian headed beyond Vicente Guaita’s desperate dive.
But the headlines were snatched away from City’s one-man goal machine as Fernandinho pressed the self-destruct button.
Suddenly you imagine the birthday celebration drinks for a certain Spaniard were placed on hold.