Premier League champions Manchester City dropped points for the second game running after being held to 1-1 draw against Newcastle United in an entertaining game at St James' Park on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola's side needed a goal deep into injury-time from substitute John Stones to rescue a point at home to title rivals Arsenal last week, bringing to an end their perfect start to the campaign.
City – playing their first match since midfielder Rodri was ruled out for the rest of the season and who were also without playmaker Kevin de Bruyne – took the lead in a tightly-contested first-half when Jack Grealish skipped away from Kieran Trippier down the Newcastle right before playing ball into Josko Gvardiol.
The Croatian, playing at left-back today, then turned inside Dan Burn before slotting the ball through Sandro Tonali's legs and into the back of the net.
Newcastle almost levelled proceedings just before half-time when Brazilian midfielder Joelinton brought the ball down superbly before thumping a shot that needed a fine reaction save from countryman Ederson.
The home side did make it 1-1 just before the hour mark when Anthony Gordon – playing as the central striker in the absence of injured duo Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson – was slotted through on goal through the City backline courtesy of a fine Bruno Guimaraes pass before being brought down by Ederson.
With regular taker Isak missing, England attacker Gordon picked himself up off the deck before calmly sending Ederson the wrong way from the spot to score his first goal in more than a month.
Roared on by an electrified home crowd, Newcastle substitute Sean Longstaff then missed a glorious opportunity to put Newcastle ahead after being teed-up by Jacob Murphy but could only drag a first-time finish strike wide of the target when well placed.
Both sides continued to push for all three points but it was City who went closest to snatching victory in injury-time. First, Bernardo Silva produced a moment of quality to control the ball with his chest before smashing a volley towards goal that Nick Pope did well to stop.
Then goal machine Erling Haaland – who had been superbly marshalled by Newcastle centre-half Dan Burn – finally found some space in the box only to send a weak header straight at Pope, meaning the Norwegian had failed to score for the first time in the Premier League this season.
The game ended with managers Guardiola and Eddie Howe sharing a long embrace and chat with City having temporarily increased their lead at the top of the table to three points. But they could potentially be overtaken by Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa by the end of the weekend.
“They had moments in first ten minutes and after their goal, but in general we played really good.” Guardiola told TNT Sports after the game.
“We made bad decisions at the last minute to make it 2-0. It is always difficult here with their physicality and they defend so deep. We had chances but Pope was brilliant so we take the point.
“When we scored we played better. We make a mistake and after they play better. But then we take the game again and had chances to win it.”
For Newcastle, there was relief on Tyneside as Newcastle produced their best performance of the season at the sixth attempt, having lost 3-1 at Fulham last weekend, with a point lifting them up to fifth on 11 points.
“We are happy, especially after last week,” manager Howe told BBC Match of the Day. “That was a good display, that was us playing our way, brave.
“It was two teams going right at each other for probably 70 minutes. Last 20 minutes they were stronger than us and we had to defend really well to maintain the point.
“We got into really good crossing areas and I was really pleased with how we were off the ball and how we attacked the game. I can't ask for much more than that, the lads gave everything.
“There is always going to be a lift here, especially against the opponent. There's a fear factor, you know you have to perform well or it could be very difficult. The challenge for us is to find that consistency and that's what we are working towards.”
