City held, Merseyside derby postponed as Brentford win

Manchester City failed to win for the eighth time in nine games in a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday as high winds caused the Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool to be postponed.

City had the chance to go second in the Premier League but failed to build on a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in midweek, which had appeared to stop the rot for the English champions.

Pep Guardiola’s men got off to the worst possible start at Selhurst Park when Daniel Munoz raced on to Will Hughes’ pass to fire Palace in front after four minutes.

Erling Haaland’s towering header from Matheus Nunes’ cross brought City back level and took the Norwegian level with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah on 13 Premier league goals in the battle for the Golden Boot.

“We take a point. We fought incredible and came back twice,” Guardiola told BBC Sport. “It’s a season to suffer. We’ll see what happens in the last months.

“We tried. Big compliment for the opponent. We cannot talk about the title race when we lose four games in a row and draw. We have to do more games to be consistent. It’s difficult in the situation we have. I’m really pleased for the players — they fought and did everything.”

The visitors started the second half strongly but were hit with a sucker punch when Maxence Lacroix powered home Hughes’ corner.

Rico Lewis found the top corner to level once more for City, but was then sent-off six minutes from time.

Fourth-placed City close to within eight points of leaders Liverpool, but more dropped points is another blow to their chances of making it five consecutive titles.

The final league derby between Everton and Liverpool at Goodison Park will have to be rescheduled after Storm Darragh battered western regions of England with high winds and heavy rain.

A decision was made just after 0800GMT local time to postpone the lunchtime kick-off due to safety concerns.

“Whilst we appreciate this will be deeply disappointing for supporters, the safety of fans, staff and players is of paramount importance,” Everton said in a statement.

Brentford enjoy the best home record in the division and made it seven wins from eight games at the Gtech Community Stadium with a thrilling 4-2 victory over Newcastle.

Bryan Mbeumo, who has been linked with a move to the Magpies, opened the scoring with a sensational individual effort.

Twice Newcastle quickly levelled in the first half through Alexander Isak and Harvey Barnes, either side of Yoane Wissa’s second for Brentford.

But calamitous defending cost Newcastle in the second period when Nathan Collins prodded home from goalkeeper Mark Flekken’s long ball forward.

Kevin Schade then sealed the points for the Bees in stoppage time.

Brentford climb up to seventh, while Newcastle drop down to 12th.

Aston Villa moved up to fifth thanks to a 1-0 win over bottom-of-the-table Southampton.

Jhon Duran made his mark in his first Premier League start of the season with the only goal.

The Colombian took advantage of another defensive calamity for the Saints to run through and slot home his ninth goal of the season on 24 minutes.

Liverpool’s postponement means Arsenal and Chelsea have the chance the cut the gap at the top to four points when they travel to Fulham and Tottenham respectively on Sunday.

Agencies