City suffer further blow as Shelvey earns Magpies a draw
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola insisted the reigning Premier League champions can only retain their title if they “win games, win games, win games” after being held at Newcastle.
City led twice at St James’ Park, but eventually had to make do with a point after Jonjo Shelvey curled home a superb 87th-minute equaliser to clinch a draw.
That left Guardiola’s men eight points adrift of leaders Liverpool before they kicked off at home to Brighton, but asked if an 11-point gap would be too big to bridge, he replied: “It’s not time.
“We have another opponent in front of us, so we now have to see what happens.
“I said yesterday at the press conference that it’s not a good idea to think about the Premier League or think how many points.
“We have to win games, win games, win games, and when you don’t win, it will be more difficult.”
City took a 22ndminute lead on Tyneside when David Silva back-heeled the ball into the path of Raheem Sterling after it had ricocheted back to him from Isaac Hayden’s challenge, and the England forward blasted home from close range.
Newcastle were level within three minutes when Jetro Willems – whose only other Newcastle goal came against Liverpool – played a one-two with Miguel Almiron before thumping a low right-foot drive past Ederson. It was the Paraguay international’s first assist since his £21million arrival in January.
Martin Dubravka needed two attempts to claim Sterling’s rising 33rd-minute strike and was relieved to see Kevin De Bruyne’s stoppagetime effort deflected into his waiting arms as the Magpies made it to the break on level terms.
Federico Fernandez’s barnstorming run from his own penalty area sparked a rare Newcastle
counter-attack which saw Shelvey send a 54th-minute free-kick just wide after Fernandinho had barged Joelinton to the ground 30 yards out.
Javier Manquillo had to produce a last-ditch tackle to deny Gabriel Jesus after De Bruyne and Sterling had picked a path through in the 65th minute, and Dubravka had to turn away a dangerous De Bruyne cross seconds later.
The Slovakia international pulled off a fine 68th-minute double save to deny Jesus and De Bruyne and saw substitute Bernardo Silva drag a left-foot shot wide four minutes later with the pressure mounting.
However, he was powerless to resist when De Bruyne pounced after Mendy’s cross had been half-cleared, chesting the ball down before firing home off the underside of the crossbar.
But there was to be a further twist when, with three minutes remaining, substitute Christian Atsu played a free-kick square to Shelvey, who sent a sumptuous curling effort beyond Ederson’s despairing dive to snatch a point.
Steve Bruce was delighted with Shelvey’s contribution.
“That’s his second goal in three games and very quietly over the last few weeks, I’ve been very, very pleased with Jonjo,” said Bruce.