Manchester City handed the Premier League title initiative to Liverpool after they were held to a 0-0 draw by a dogged Crystal Palace on 
At a rocking Selhurst Park, Palace were seeking a league double over City for the first time since 1987/88 in the second tier, and they put up a stiff resistance as Pep Guardiola's side were left frustrated by the stalemate
City ran into an inspired Vicente Guaita, who brilliantly denied Riyad Mahrez with an instinctive save after Kevin De Bruyne struck the inside of the post just before the hour-mark
It was the second time the visitors had struck the woodwork after Joao Cancelo's speculative shot in the first half cannoned off the upright before Aymeric Laporte blazed his rebound over the crossbar
City kept pushing for a breakthrough in the second period but could not find a way past Guaita, meaning title rivals Liverpool can move one point behind them if they win their game in hand against Arsenal, live on  on Wednesday evening
Despite the dropped points, Man City forward Bernardo Silva still believes his side have the advantage in the race for the Premier League title over Liverpool
"We couldn't score and we should've scored," Silva told Sky Sports after a frustrating evening at Selhurst Park
"Nine games to go, but it's still better to be in our position than in Liverpool's and they have to play in our stadium so it's going to be exciting
"Despite 18 shots and 46 touches in the opposition box as part of 74 per cent possession, City were met by a red and blue wall
 Palace became just the second side to stop Guardiola's side scoring home and away in a Premier League season after Manchester United in 2020/21
The City boss insisted ahead of kick-off he was not motivated by the prospect of winning a treble but instead placed his focus on winning individual games - and there remains little margin for error in this absorbing battle for supremacy
Guardiola anticipated a tricky encounter, especially given how Palace are one of only two teams to beat City this season following their 2-0 away win in October
Patrick Vieira called on his team to play with personality in his programme notes, stressing the need to be clinical if his players were to emulate that shock success - and his side made a bright start with Jean-Philippe Mateta inviting Michael Olise to shoot following a swift break but the youngster's effort was narrowly off target
Kyle Walker had dawdled on the ball to present the opportunity, and it seemed to spark City into life as moments later Guaita spilled De Bruyne's shot straight to Bernardo Silva but a heavy touch as he looked to round the Palace goalkeeper meant the chance was squandered
City came even closer to unlocking Palace's stubborn back line when Cancelo's clever cross was volleyed goalwards by De Bruyne but kept out instinctively by Guaita on 26 minutes
Guardiola's men sensed a goal was coming as from the second of two ensuing corners, Cancelo cracked a fine effort from the edge of the box that came back off the post into the path of Laporte but the Spain defender was unable to readjust his feet quick enough as he skied his effort into the gleeful Homesdale Road stand
Palace took their luck and took the fight to City as Wilfried Zaha came within inches of lighting up Selhurst Park, cutting in off the left flank onto his right foot before unleashing a sweetly-struck effort which whistled fractionally past the angle of post and bar
The hosts were very nearly punished just before the interval when Marc Guehi's poor headed clearance was gobbled up by the lively Mahrez, but the Algerian bent his fourth shot of the opening period just wide
Gary Neville said at half-time: "City haven't been ruthless enough in the final part of the game
 City are so consistent, they create bucket-loads of chances that are identical
 It's been chance after chance after chance
 You have to think they will take one of them soon
"Guardiola sought a reaction but it was Palace who looked sharper upon the restart as Mateta was unable to direct Joachim Andersen's header back across goal from a set piece on target
On 57 minutes, City thought they had broken the deadlock when De Bruyne's shot rebounded off the inside of the post into the path of Mahrez but his firm strike was brilliantly tipped over by Guaita
City refused to deviate from their passing game as a cute pass from De Bruyne found Grealish down the right channel but his low cross was agonisingly just too far in front of the outstretched Silva
Palace refused to be beaten
 De Bruyne continued to pull the strings as his lofted pass found Phil Foden but Guehi was back to produce a sublime tackle, in spite of a late offside call
When Laporte rose unmarked to make a mess of De Bruyne's next inviting delivery, City's hopes of a late winner faded
 There was even time for the indefatigable Conor Gallagher to pounce on a slack header back to Ederson from John Stones and while his shot from an acute angle was off target, Vieira beamed with pride - as he did at the final whistle
With second-placed Liverpool having a game in hand and visiting the Etihad Stadium next month, the title race remains tight, but Jurgen Klopp will sense the pendulum is swinging in his side's direction
City were once 14 points clear of Liverpool albeit having played two games more, but Guardiola knew this would always go right down to the wire
"There's still nine games and a lot of points," he said
 "In general, we did a really good game
 We have five or six days before we play in the FA Cup against Southampton but there is little to say to them
 We did everything we could to win today
 It was an incredible effort from Crystal Palace who played very well
"Now we have four points [clear at the top] and one game more
 In the international break we are still going to be leaders and we play to win
 It was difficult to control the physicality they had and we had a lot of chances to win but we couldn't score
"I thought about making changes, but they were playing well
 The guys had the ability to score goals but, in the end, with the emotion and their people, we couldn't
"We created more, conceded few, the stats are there
 The way we played was amazing in a difficult stadium where the grass was not perfect
 We had a good game
 We have to win a lot of games
 I have no regrets how we played
"We don't need to draw here to know it [how tough it is to win the Premier League]
""There is an element to City where they don't go through the gears, often because they don't need to, and they play at the same pace in the belief the chances would come
 They didn't panic, but it didn't happen for them tonight
"They missed big chances, those final moments, passes
 If you're going to take points off City everything has got to go right, including City not being sharp in front of goal, and that is what happened
"Unbelievable
 So much of the ball, so many chances
 It was just one of those nights
"Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira remains unbeaten in the Premier League against Manchester City as both a manager (P2 W1 D1) and a player (P7 W6 D1)
Vieira said: "It feels good
 Looking at the two games we've played against them, we defended well as a team
 When you play against City, you have to be lucky at times and we forced that luck to be on our side
"The difference between the game here and there [at the Etihad] was that we didn't take the chances we created tonight
 The final pass was difficult because of the runs we had to make
"We managed to frustrate them but we needed a really good team performance from back to front
 We've made it more exciting for the neutral but there's still a lot of games left
"Gallagher told : "We will take a point against them and it was really deserved
 I can't feel my legs, every one of the boys worked so hard, we gave everything and I'm proud of the team
 I'm struggling to talk and my legs have gone
"You could see our game plan, to be organised and try to catch them on the counter-attack
 It was a very good performance from us
 Before the game we had the belief we would win
 We have played well and got good results, but we're happy with the point