Man City

2022 - 3 - 14

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Manchester Evening News"

Man City's John Stones is repaying Pep Guardiola in a way no one ... (Manchester Evening News)

It should not come as news to Manchester City supporters - or any football fans for that matter - that John Stones is a very good footballer.

He overcame many setbacks before enjoying a career-best season last year, but coming in to steer the Blues through to the title this time around would be his greatest achievement yet. Stones was so good that he managed to keep Aymeric Laporte - a defender incredibly well-thought of by Pep Guardiola - out of the City team. Stones and Laporte were Guardiola's preferred centre-backs in 2018/19, but the former was replaced at the back by Vincent Kompany for five of City's final six league matches.

Man City draw to give Liverpool further hope in title race (1 News)

A draw at Crystal Palace extended City's lead to four points but second-placed Liverpool has a game in hand.

While Liverpool has won its 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. The top two also meet at City’s Etihad Stadium on April 10. Palace has taken four points off City this season, having beaten the champions 2-0 away on October 30 - the last time they failed to score in the league.

Pep Guardiola Happy With Man City Performance At Crystal Palace... But Not The Grass (unknown)

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola made a strange comment about the grass at Selhurst Park after his side were held to a 0-0 draw by Crystal Palace.

We're going to fight as usual for the title." We did a good game." "We created more and conceded few.

Man City give Liverpool further hope in puzzling draw with Palace (unknown)

Pep Guardiola didn't use any substitutes in a dominant, but goalless, draw against Palace that left the door further ajar for a chasing Liverpool.

They have given Liverpool a huge incentive for Wednesday's trip to Arsenal, knowing that victory there in their game in hand will take them one point behind City with nine games each to play. As it was, Guardiola didn't make a single substitution in a game City had to win to maintain a degree of breathing space over Liverpool, the holder's lead standing at four points now. But it is tempting on nights like this -- as rare as they are -- to imagine what might have happened here had City landed Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane or Cristiano Ronaldo last summer. The result inevitably shapes judgements on such decision-making, but that just felt odd in the immediate aftermath. If he really was thinking about changing things, it never seemed particularly close to becoming reality. City peppered Palace's goal with 18 shots.

City forced to share the spoils at Palace (unknown)

City were forced to settle for a share of the Premier League spoils as we were held to a goalless draw on a frustrating night at Selhurst Park.

"We played to win the game. We did a good game." We prefer to win of course but it was well played. "I thought a lot to make changes, but they were playing good. "We played a really good game. We came within a whisker of gaining a 14th minute lead.

Man City still better placed than Reds in 'exciting' title race ... (Cumnock Chronicle)

Bernardo Silva believes Manchester City are still best-placed to retain their Premier League crown despite a disappointing draw at Crystal Palace offering ...

“The tactics we lined up with, we made it difficult for them. “Considering it was against the champions I think we did really well. “Get in their faces, don’t make it easy and put our foot in the tackle. “There are nine games to go. It’s still better to be in our position than Liverpool’s, they still have to come and play in our stadium. Still a long way to go.