Aguero brace in vain as Palace holds Man City to 2-2 draw
The result leaves City still trailing leader Liverpool by 13 points ahead of the Anfield side's home game against Manchester United on Sunday.
Published : Jan 18, 2020 22:50 IST
Crystal Palace snatched a 2-2 draw in a dramatic finale against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, where Sergio Aguero brought up another goalscoring landmark.
On-loan Everton striker Cenk Tosun headed a 39th-minute opener for the visitor, which looked like holding out for three points until Aguero slid home Gabriel Jesus' 82nd-minute cross.
That was Aguero's 250th goal in City colours and his pinpoint header from Benjamin Mendy's cross five minutes later seemingly settled the issue.
But there was a sting in the tail as Wilfried Zaha tore at a backpedalling John Stones and forced Fernandinho to put through his own goal in the final minute.
Kevin De Bruyne was to the fore as City pushed Palace back during the opening stages and he struck a sumptuous free-kick against the underside of the crossbar in the 14th minute.
Zaha was arguably unfortunate to have a penalty appeal rejected when he went down under Stones' 17th-minute challenge, but Palace was celebrating when Gary Cahill nodded James McCarthy's corner back across goal for an unmarked Tosun to head home.
Vicente Guaita denied Bernardo Silva either side of the interval, although a cute Palace break saw his opposite number Ederson forced to deny Tosun a second.
Aguero was ready to strike from the penalty spot inside the final 20 minutes, but referee Graham Scott overturned his handball verdict against Jairo Riedewald after a VAR review.
City's all-time record scorer duly took matters into his own hands by getting on the end of an excellent delivery from substitute Jesus, and his header from Mendy's centre sent the home supporters into raptures.
However, Zaha prayed on the defensive frailties the host has exhibited for much of the season, with Fernandinho erring under pressure from Palace substitute Connor Wickham.