City held by Palace, gives Liverpool hope in EPL title race - TOTALSPORTEK

LONDON, England (AP) – Manchester City led the English Premier League by 13 points two months ago. The champions might be in second position the next time they meet.

In the latest twist in the title race, City stumbled against Crystal Palace — again — by drawing 0-0 at an atmospheric Selhurst Park on Monday to give second-placed Liverpool further hope of reeling in Pep Guardiola’s team and reclaiming the biggest prize in English soccer.

City extended its advantage to four points but Liverpool plays twice -- the first against Arsenal on Wednesday -- before City is next in action in the league, on April 2. Liverpool also has a better goal difference than the other teams.

On April 10, the top two meet at City's Etihad Stadium.

Even if Patrick Vieira's side rode their luck, Palace was the last team to stop City scoring in the league, doing it in a 2-0 triumph at the Etihad on Oct. 30.

Joao Cancelo and Kevin De Bruyne struck the post for City in a match that was mostly one-way traffic except for some sporadic and dangerous counterattacks from Palace, mirroring what happened in the meeting of the teams 4 1/2 months ago.

City midfielder Bernardo Silva had arguably the finest chance of the game, prodding a shot over from just two meters out after Jack Grealish's low center across the face of goal.

Despite frustration appeared to set in over the final 15 minutes, Guardiola made no substitutes, insisting he was delighted with the way his squad was playing.

With nine games remaining, Silva is still optimistic about City's chances.

"There's still a long way to go," remarked the Portugal international. "We're still in a good place." Even so, we're in a better situation than Liverpool. They still have to play in our stadium as well. It's going to be a lot of fun."

Liverpool has the better form, though. While the Reds have won their last eight games in the league, City has dropped points in three of its last seven outings — after a 1-1 draw at Southampton in January and a 3-2 loss at home to Tottenham last month.

And Liverpool's superior firepower may yet prove the difference, with City again missing a cutting edge against Palace without an out-and-out striker in the team.

As for Palace, Vieira was just proud of how his players held their nerve against what he regards as one of “the best four or five teams in Europe.”

“It was a team effort and our performance was really good," Vieira said. “When you play against the quality of players they have, you need a bit of luck at times and at times we were lucky but you also need to perform as well.”



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