Manchester City held at West Ham after Riyad Mahrez fails from penalty spot

Just when it seemed the title race was done and dusted, along came Jarrod Bowen and Lukasz Fabianski. Two goals from the West Ham forward - his 17th and 18th of the season - and heroics from their goalkeeper to deny Riyad Mahrez’s late penalty means Manchester City must now beat Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa next weekend to be certain of retaining their crown.

Yet if Liverpool’s hopes of an unprecedented quadruple remain alive, Pep Guardiola must be grateful for their second half comeback through Jack Grealish and an own goal from Vladimir Coufal. In the end, City’s patched up side could even have ended up as winners on a topsy turvy afternoon that saw West Ham supporters pay tribute to captain Mark Noble for the best part of two decades’ service.

As well as a pre-match montage narrated by Danny Dyer in dedication to “Mr West Ham” and an enormous West Ham shirt cake emblazoned with the number 16 that was served in the pressroom beforehand, no expense had been spared for Noble’s big day. The 35-year-old born just down the road in Canning Town was given a standing ovation before kick off having also written a letter of appreciation in which admitted had “lived his dream” since making his first appearance under Alan Pardew in 2004.

After their emphatic 4-0 win at Norwich last week, this was also another opportunity to consign the disappointment of the Europa League semifinal defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt and keep alive their chances of qualifying for the same competition again next season. David Moyes restored Tomas Soucek to his midfield while Guardiola was thankful to have Fernandinho and Aymeric Laporte available after both limped out of Wednesday’s 5-1 win at Wolves.

That meant City’s three changes were in attack as