Man City’s winning streak halted by Crystal Palace
Manchester City's extraordinary winning streak ended at 18 matches here on Sunday with a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace in the 21st round of the English Premier League (EPL) football championship.
Pep Guardiola-coached City fell one victory shy of breaking the longest winning run in the major European leagues, recorded by Bayern Munich under him in 2014.
Man City, who are yet to lose a league match this season, struggled to pierce the host's defence at Selhurst Park in London.
The EPL leaders nearly lost the game in the 90th minute when Palace were awarded a penalty after Wilfried Zaha was appeared to have been fouled by Raheem Sterling. Luka Milivojevic of Serbia, however, missed the best scoring chance in the match, firing the ball into the legs of Man City's Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson.
In the following counter-attack, City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne clashed with Palace's Jason Puncheon and both were stretchered off.
City had their chances, which were squandered by Argentine substitute Sergio Aguero. The Argentine was brought in to replace injured Gabriel Jesus in the 23rd minute.
Man City also missed David Silva, who was not even called up for the match, and they lacked solutions to Palace's defensive approach.
Guardiola brought Raheem Sterling and Yaya Toure during the second half but without any changes on the scoreboard.
After the draw, City remain at the top of the EPL standings with 59 points, 14 points ahead of second-placed Chelsea.
After the match, Guardiola said that Jesus "will be out for maybe one month of two months".
Reacting to the match's result, Guardiola said: "The second half was a little bit better than the first, we had a little problems but in the end Ederson helped us to get a point.
"We have to focus. When we win, we focus on the next one, when we don't win, we have to focus on the next one."
Meanwhile, English Premier League defending champion Chelsea routed Stoke City 5-0, while Liverpool had to rally from one goal down to earn a 21 win over Leicester City.
Manchester United drew for the third league match in a row, this time against Southampton 0-0.
Egyptian Mohamed Salah, meanwhile, led Liverpool's comeback for a second consecutive league victory, extending Leicester's drought to four matches.
Leicester took the lead in the third minute, thanks to a goal from Jamie Vardy, but a brace from Salah in the 52nd and 76th minutes was all Liverpool needed to win. Liverpool holds fourth place in the standings with 41 points.