LONDON: Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City fell one short of equalling his 19-game top-league winning run at Bayern Munich as the Premier leaders were held goalless by Crystal Palace.

For the first time in the league this season City failed to score in a lively game which meant that Palace, steadily pulling away from the relegation zone, had recorded only one defeat in 10 games.

Palace might even have won but Luka Milivojevic’s late penalty was saved by Ederson after Wilfried Zaha was tripped by Raheem Sterling.

However the game also featured a controversial incident in the third minute of stoppage time when Jason Puncheon and Kevin de Bruyne were both injured after the Palace player hacked down the City midfielder. Puncheon was merely booked by referee Jon Moss.

Both men were carried off on stretchers with the extent of their injuries to be determined later.

City striker Gabriel Jesus had also been injured earlier and Guardiola suggested later the Brazilian could be out for a month or more. This could increase the likelihood of City bidding for Arsenal’s Chilean striker Alexis Sanchez.

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