Pep Guardiola refused to blame the two major refereeing decisions that went against Manchester City for our defeat to Crystal Palace as he admitted a number of things went wrong for his side in his 200th Premier League game.

Goals from Wilfried Zaha and Connor Gallagher gave the visitors all three points at the Etihad Stadium, where Aymeric Laporte was sent off for a professional foul on the Ivorian forward and Gabriel Jesus had a goal chalked off with the score at 0-1 after VAR ruled Phil Foden to be offside during the build-up.

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Even with 10-men, City were on top for the majority of the second half and whilst we were unable to turn our dominance into goals, Guardiola was satisfied with the performance.

“It could be a yellow or red,” he said of the Laporte incident at his post-match press conference.

“It depends on the referee and what he thinks.  The goal, I imagine the linesman says he’s offside.

“We didn’t lose because of that. We conceded the first goal and we weren’t able to score a goal but after that we really good and for 25-30 minutes of the second we were good.

“But when you play 50 minutes 10 against 11, it is difficult for a team like us because you need the process and to do everything right.

“The players showed character and tried, but unfortunately many, many things went wrong and we lost the game.”

It proved to be a frustrating afternoon for City, who created a host of chances but were thwarted by the stubborn Eagles.

Patrick Vieira’s men defended in numbers, making life difficult for the hosts in the final third, whilst in Zaha they carried a threat on the break throughout.

Guardiola was not surprised by the stern test provided by the visitors, who move up to 13th in the league, as he praised their defensive organisation and commitment to a possession based style.

“Good strong defence, three midfielders defending and winning duels, winning the ball, blocks and then using the counter with Zaha up front and with fast players,” he added.

“It’s always tough because of that reason.

“They have very good players. When they get the ball, they keep it and want to play. I said after the Brighton game to prepare mentally straight away because it would be very difficult.

“I saw against Brighton and Arsenal so I knew perfectly how difficult they are and they showed it today.”