Leaders Manchester City were held to a 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace on Monday as the Premier League title race took yet another dramatic twist.
With nearest challengers Liverpool having cut the gap to three points with their victory at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, their eighth successive league win to remain in City's rear-view mirror, the onus was the champions to respond.
Playing without a recognized striker for almost an year now, Pep Guardiola's side perhaps lacked a killer instinct from their forwards, which they'll hope doesn't come back to haunt them later this season.
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City dominated in the first half at Selhurst Park, but could not find a breakthrough. The post was rattled in the opening period by Joao Cancelo and again after the break by Kevin De Bruyne as the visitors were left frustrated time and again.
Pep Guardiola's men threw everything at Palace late on, but could not find a winner as they dropped two valuable points in their quest to make it four league titles in the last five seasons.
The stalemate means Liverpool can close to within one point of City if they win their game in hand against Arsenal on Wednesday, raising expectations the title race will go right to the wire.
"Luck doesn't exist in football," Guardiola told the BBC. "We have to score goals and we didn't do it.
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"We played to score goals and concede few. We struggled a little bit. The team that was there today was there before and will be there in the next game. I am very pleased with the performance and the way we played," he added.
With the latest result, Man City's recent good run came to a halt. They were beaten by Tottenham 3-2 earlier in February and were held on by Sporting for a 0-0 draw recently, apart from which, Pep Guardiola's side have been flawless.
With inputs from Reuters
