Manchester City were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Crystal Palace, the fourth time this season that City have failed to take all three points after scoring first. Pep Guardiola's side have won just one of their last six league games, against promoted Luton Town, and have won just four draws and one defeat in five league games. The speed at which the Treble champions have fallen in the Premier League is a bit surprising.
Manchester City started the league with a wave of six consecutive wins, and even if the league was reversed by Wolves in the seventh round of the league, the outside world still did not think that something was wrong with Pep Guardiola's team. They then lost 1-0 to Arsenal, but the losing streak was quickly put to rest as the team won three league games in a row. The team also snatched the top spot from Tottenham, scoring 11 goals and conceding just two goals in those three league games. No one would have imagined that the 3-0 win away to Manchester United on 29 October would be the last time Manchester City kept a clean sheet in the league.
A 4-4 draw by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 12 November, followed by the final international break of the year, City began to enter the so-called 'devil's schedule'. They were followed by Chelsea against Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa, with three draws and one defeat in the four league games in which Manchester City drew three and lost one, and each game went from one game to worse. By the time of the 1-0 defeat away to Villa in early December, Pep Guardiola's side had a rare 2-shot finish in the game, and were shaved 6-0 by Villa in corner kick statisticsIn fact, the BBC's post-match commentary on that game was quite accurate: "If it weren't for Villa's excitement in the game, Pep Guardiola's side would have fallen behind by a wide margin and had to face a heavy defeat." Even if they lose this game, Pep Guardiola is well aware that the team is quite lucky to lose only 0-1. ”
When Manchester City were beaten by Luton Town last week, it was thought that the bottom of the treble-winning season was imminent. However, then goals from Bernardo Silva and Grealish saved Pep Guardiola. Manchester City won their final Champions League group stage game in Belgrade in midweek with a mix of substitutes and youth teams, and it is believed that they have already overcome the crisis and will go to the Club World Cup after a comfortable win over Crystal Palace.
This is not the first time City have been drawn or reversed this season. In the previous game where they scored first, Wolves, Chelsea and Liverpool did not allow the Blues to take the three points as they wished, but City's lead on the pitch was just one goal. This time, with a two-goal lead, Crystal Palace scored two goals in the final 15 minutes, while the visitors had just 25 possession in the whole game8%, a total of 3 shots on goal, and 2 shots on target were converted into goals. It's no wonder Pep Guardiola admitted after the game that the draw could not be blamed on bad luck, but rather City's own mistakes.
Guardiola compared the game to the previous two draws against Tottenham and Liverpool, saying: "Just like we did against Tottenham and Liverpool, we were both very good on the pitch at one point and then we failed to win the game again. You can compare the chances we created in the game and look at the chances that the opposition created in front of our goal, and I think the rest of the games [that we didn't win] were quite similar except for the game against Chelsea, which was that we didn't completely kill the suspense of the game. Palace had a chance in the first half today, but that time we had two defenders slip and we didn't have any test in the second half until they scored”
As Pep Guardiola himself has analysed, Manchester City seem to be Xi this sudden goal conceded this season. What makes fans even more unsettling is that the team seems to be starting to swing psychologically. Palace equalised from a late penalty and it wasn't the first time City have conceded a penalty this season. Pep Guardiola summed up the situation after the game: "The team actually played well most of the time, but in the final moments of the game, when you give away a penalty like this, we don't really deserve to win. It was also very similar to the penalty we gave to our opponents at the end of the game against Chelsea. In the final moments of the game, you have to be patient and not get your opponent to take advantage of the transition between attack and defence. We've done that for the last seven or eight years. And now we are not careful enough in our own backfield. ”
City also swayed in the first half of the season last year, but the extent of the ups and downs was nowhere near as exaggerated as it is now. At that time, the league was halved in November because of the World Cup, and Guardiola actually completed the adjustment of the team's state more than a month after the league resumed at the end of December, and finally completed the treble. The Blues will now be away from the league once again, but this time they will be heading for the Club World Cup, with the team far more tired than the rest of the Premier League in the coming week, and by the time they return to the league at the end of December, the gap between them and the top of the table may have widened to 12 points. Pep Guardiola also has a big picture of the club's Club World Cup schedule during this period: "We have to fly for six or seven hours, then we only have three days to rest and prepare, and then if we can qualify for the final, we only have three days to prepare, and then we have a long flight and then we face Everton!”