LONDON — Manchester City’s Premier League title defense took another blow after a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace.
City failed to win for the eighth time in nine games as high winds caused the Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool to be postponed.
Four-time defending champion City ended a seven-game winless run on Wednesday by beating Nottingham Forest, but dropped more points with the draw at Selhurst Park.
It could have been worse for City after Palace led twice.
Pep Guardiola’s team is fourth in the standings and eight points behind leader Liverpool, which has a game in hand after its derby with Everton was postponed due to a storm.
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.
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, AFP reported.
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.
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.
“While 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’s fotress
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.
Manchester United host Nottingham Forest as the Red Devils looks to bounce back from Ruben Amorim’s first defeat at Arsenal on Wednesday.
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.
West Ham forward Michail Antonio has been involved in a road traffic accident, the Premier League club said.
No details of the player’s condition or further information about the incident have yet been given but the club said their “thoughts and prayers” were with the 34-year-old.
A club statement said: “West Ham United can confirm striker Michail Antonio has been involved in a road traffic accident.
“The thoughts and prayers of everyone at the club are with Michail, his family and friends at this time.
“The club will issue an update in due course.”
Man Utd suffers home defeat
Manchester United’s weakness from set pieces was exploited again as they fell to a 3-2 Premier League defeat by Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford, continuing a rocky start to the reign of new head coach Ruben Amorim.
Forest’s first win at Old Trafford in 30 years moves them up to fifth in the standings on 25 points, while the scale facing the recently-appointed United coach was apparent as his side languish in 13th place on 19 points after a disjointed display that featured some glaring defensive errors.
Having conceded from two corners to Arsenal in a 2-0 defeat in midweek, United went behind from another corner within two minutes as Forest defender Nikola Milenkovic easily out-jumped Lisandro Martinez to head his first goal for the club, Reuters reported.
United levelled in the 18th minute when Alejandro Garnacho´s initial shot was saved, but Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund pounced to slot home the rebound to ignite the home crowd.
The hosts started the second half equally badly and again they conceded within two minutes as Fernandes lost the ball. It was quickly fed to Morgan Gibbs-White, whose low bouncing drive somehow took Andre Onana by surprise and flew past him into the net.
The United keeper was at fault again seven minutes later when Forest scored from a scrappy attack, Chris Wood sending a looping header over him and into the net to leave Onana and Martinez looking at each other in frustration after another sloppy goal.
Fernandes redeemed himself just after the hour mark, scoring with a superb shot from the edge of the box but despite being United´s best player for much of the game, he was replaced in the 76th minute by Mason Mount.
United continued to look disjointed until Marcus Rashford´s stoppage time volley was deflected behind for a corner, and Martinez sent another volley from the resulting set-piece whistling over the bar.
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