Riyad Mahrez missed a late penalty as Manchester City’s title march was halted at West Ham following a 2-2 draw on Sunday afternoon.
Pep Guardiola went into the match needing maximum points to open the gap between them and second-placed Liverpool and inch closer to defending their crown but were forced to settle for a point by a disciplined West Ham side that could have easily won the match.
The Hammers surprisingly led 2-0 at the break, but Pep Guardiola’s outfit battled back to force a draw and could have won the match had Mahrez converted the 87th-minute penalty.
Craig Dawson came close to giving the hosts the lead in the fourth minute when he met a lovely lofted pass from Pablo Fornals but sent his close-range header way over the crossbar.
Gabriel Jesus then broke into the box but went down after a challenge, but the ref signaled no penalty.
The first goal of the match arrived midway through the first half, and it was from none other than the contender for Player of the Season award; Jarrod Bowen.
The Englishman ran on to a clever pass from Fornals and found himself one-on-one with the keeper, but managed to finish with aplomb into the back of the net.
Gabriel Jesus and Aymeric Laporte came close to equalising for City, but their efforts could not find the back of the net.
Instead, it was the hosts who added a second, just before the break, when Bowen and Michail Antonio played a beautiful link up to give the former a clear sight of goal on the edge of the box, and he didn’t disappoint, beating the keeper into the bottom right corner.
City came back for the second half guns blazing, and deservedly leveled four minutes in when Jack Grealish got some space for a shot from the edge of the box, and it flew past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
They went all out to find the equaliser, and it almost arrived only for desperate defending to deny Bernado Silva.
Their persistence finally paid off in the 69th minute when Vladimir Coufal headed the ball into his own net from a well-whipped free-kick.
The visitors put the hosts under pressure going into the last 10 minutes and got the chance to win the match six minutes from time after Gabriel Jesus was brought down inside the box.
Mahrez could not find the back of the net though as Lukasz Fabianski made a wonderful save to deny the Algerian.
The draw means Liverpool could be a point behind City if they win their next match, against Southampton.
