Manchester City’s hopes of closing the gap on the English Premier League pacesetters were frustrated on Tuesday as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to lowly West Bromwich Albion.
City took the lead on the half hour when Raheem Sterling did well to work his way to the byline and pull the ball back to Ilkay Gundogan, who expertly side-footed home.
However, West Brom, second bottom of the league, drew level two minutes before the break when a shot on the turn from Semi Ajayi hit City defender Ruben Dias and deflected past wrong-footed goalkeeper Ederson.
Photo: AFP
The hosts camped in West Brom’s half throughout most of the second period, but Slaven Bilic’s side showed tremendous determination and defensive solidity.
City had late chances though — Kevin de Bruyne went close with a free-kick that West Brom ’keeper Sam Johnstone did well to reach, while Sergio Aguero blasted wide from a good position.
Johnstone did well again in stoppage-time to keep out a close-range Gundogan header and denied another great opportunity for Sterling, who headed straight at the ’keeper.
Photo: EPA-EFE
After 12 games, Pep Guardiola’s City were in sixth place, five points behind leaders Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, who both had 25 points and were to face each other at Anfield yesterday.
“It is not about the points [off the top], you have to win games like this,” Guardiola said.
“We know it, we drop points. These are the ones you have to win. It’s not far away to the top of the league, but you have to beat West Brom at home,” he added.
“You don’t have to be so clever to see the gap between this year and previous years [in our results]. It is not confidence, Sergio Aguero is injured for four months, but we create chances, we are there, we just can’t score,” Guardiola said.
Bilic was proud of the way his team stuck at their task for 90 minutes.
“The team was working hard, a great defensive performance. We are playing against great players, we knew we are not going to see much of the ball. We defended brilliantly, it’s a great point, but more than that, it shows we know what we have to do in every game,” he said. “We are defending for our lives, ready to die for each other on the pitch and that’s all I can ask.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Frank Lampard believes his team have become complacent after the Blues blew a lead to lose 2-1 at the Wolverhampton Wanderers and suffer back-to-back Premier League defeats for the first time during his reign in charge.
Twice in four days Chelsea have wasted the chance to move top of the Premier League after losing for the first time in 18 matches at Everton on Saturday.
Lampard himself called into question his side’s title credentials after a 1-0 loss at Goodison Park at the weekend and believes his players might have got carried away with their unbeaten run.
“Performance is what gives you results. We were playing very well, on a long unbeaten run and then maybe the lads think: ‘We’re playing well.’ The minute you think you’re playing well, things like this can happen,” said a visibly irked Lampard after Pedro Neto broke clear to win the game in the 95th minute.
“If you’re not playing well, which we weren’t tonight, hang on to the 1-0. Play, control the game and don’t allow counterattacks like we did,” he said.
Lampard’s men remained in fifth, three points adrift of the league leaders.
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