Man City boss Pep Guardiola bizarrely blames GRASS for draw at Crystal Palace as title pressure ramps up

PEP GUARDIOLA reckons the Selhurst Park’s turf made things tricky for Manchester City during their surprise draw with Crystal Palace. The Etihad gaffer, 51, made his comments after his title-chasers nabbed a point from their stubborn hosts with Liverpool breathing down their necks. The result saw City’s lead over Jurgen Klopp’s stars cut to just […]

PEP GUARDIOLA reckons the Selhurst Park’s turf made things tricky for Manchester City during their surprise draw with Crystal Palace.

The Etihad gaffer, 51, made his comments after his title-chasers nabbed a point from their stubborn hosts with Liverpool breathing down their necks.

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Pep Guardiola reckons the playing surface at Selhurst Park was ‘not perfect’ during his team’s draw with Palace[/caption]

The result saw City’s lead over Jurgen Klopp’s stars cut to just FOUR points after Patrick Vieira’s side battled to a 0-0 finish.

And the Reds, who have won their last five matches, have a game in hand.

Guardiola told Sky Sports: “The way we played was amazing in a difficult stadium with the grass not perfect, we were there all the time, we had a good game.

“I think they played good. There are still many games to play, we have to win a lot of games but the way we played, there’s no regrets about the team.

“We would have preferred to win of course but the game was well played.

“We played to win the game, we created more, the stats were there.”

Manchester City racked up 18 shots in contrast to Palace’s seven, with four attempts to bypass Vicente Guaita on target.

However, the Spain-born keeper did a diligent job of holding the Citizens at bay.

And he was later spotted having animated discussion with Guardiola after the gamel.

The City chief was seen patting Guaita on the back before the Eagles stopper appeared to make a remark which made the former Barcelona boss pause.

But after a lively conversation the pair appeared to embrace before departing for their dressing rooms.

After the match Guardiola remained fairly tight-lipped on the details of the exchange other than to say he was congratulating Guaita ‘for an incredible effort and his saves.

Manchester City will be hoping for clinical finishing in their next game after hitting the post twice against Palace and seeing a Bernardo Silva effort go wide.

They play Southampton in the FA Cup’s quarter-finals before a Prem trip to Burnley who are battling to avoid relegation.

Meanwhile the Eagles who are 11^th will host Frank Lampard’s Everton on Sunday in the FA Cup’s last eight before a duel with Arsenal.