The foundations around Man City crumbled again as Christian Norgaard’s late header halted their revival as they lost a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Brentford.
City showed a fraction of their old selves as captain Kevin De Bruyne produced a captain’s performance, highlighted by a typically perfect save for Phil Foden’s close-range opener – before their late collapse again showed just how far they have fallen this season.
They looked to have snuffed out Brentford’s threat when Foden hit another from inside the box to continue his personal recovery, but it was their defensive frailty that saw them agree deals for Lens Abdukodir Husanov and Palmeiras’ Vitor Reis soon returned to the fore.
Eight minutes from time, Nathan Ake missed a header and allowed Mads Roerslev’s cross to reach Yoane Wiss, who turned smartly to score his 11th Premier League goal of the season.
A repeat performance was to follow when Brentford went ahead in added time as Norgaard beat Manuel Akanji only for Keane Lewis-Potter’s header to be headed in by Manuel Ortega to lift the roof off the Gtech Community Stadium.
Man City should have wrapped up the win before a Brentford comeback with Savinho shaking the post and Haaland heading a free straight at Mark Flekken, but the champions were made to pay for their continued shortcomings in both areas by a Brentford side only too happy to I leave them with a bloody nose once again.
More to come…
The story of the match in statistics
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