Liverpool FC celebrate Man City blank but Pep Guardiola was right to make controversial call

Well, if we didn't already have a title race on our hands then we certainly do now. Manchester City could only manage a goalless draw against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Monday night, the second time this season that Pep Guardiola's side have dropped points against the Eagles.

This meeting was the opposite of October's 2-0 defeat in which City struggled to create chances; the Blues created a shed load - 18 shots to be precise - but just couldn't score. As time wore on it seemed logical that Guardiola would make a substitution to freshen things up, but the change never came.

The 11 players that sprung onto the pitch shortly before 8pm were the same 11 that trudged off it in disappointment at before 10pm, something many are criticising Guardiola for. It seems a little ironic that just 16 months ago, it was Guardiola who was calling on the Premier League to bring back the five substitutions per game rule that was temporarily introduced during project restart in 2020.

At the time he cited an increase in muscular injuries suffered by players following the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason, yet when some of his attackers started to flag on Monday night, he decided not to turn to the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling or Ilkay Gundogan on the bench.

The thing is though, Guardiola was arguably justified in not making any changes during the 90 minutes. As the City boss said after the game, his side played well. Bar the opening 20 minutes during which Palace's pressing disrupted City's build-up play and resulted in a couple of dangerous counter-attacks, City dominated and controlled the game.

The Blues enjoyed 74% possession, took 18 shots, created four big chances and registered an xG rating of 2.79,