{"id":34205,"date":"2026-01-02T09:04:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=34205"},"modified":"2026-01-02T09:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:04:25","slug":"manchester-citys-title-bid-dented","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=34205","title":{"rendered":"Manchester City’s title bid dented"},"content":{"rendered":"
Manchester City suffered a major setback to their Premier League title challenge as they were held to a 0-0 draw against Sunderland on Thursday.
\nPep Guardiola\u2019s side would have closed within two points of leaders Arsenal with a win at the Stadium of Light. But in their first game of 2026, they delivered a spluttering display that left them four points adrift of the Gunners.
\nCity\u2019s New Year\u2019s Day stalemate ruined their eight-match winning run in all competitions.
\nAfter Arsenal\u2019s 4-1 rout of third-placed Aston Villa on Tuesday, second-placed City have surrendered the initiative at the halfway point of the title race.
\nCity will look to bounce back at home to troubled Chelsea on Sunday after the Blues parted company with boss Enzo Maresca on Thursday.
\nReportedly on the verge of signing Bournemouth\u2019s Ghana forward Antoine Semenyo, Guardiola could do with reinforcements in attack after his team were frustrated by Sunderland\u2019s tenacious performance.
\nManchester City beat Sunderland 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium on December 6, but Guardiola predicted a far more difficult encounter in the rematch and his fears proved well-founded.
\nSunderland are unbeaten in their first 10 home league games this season and have held City and Arsenal to draws on Wearside.
\nOn a freezing evening with a biting wind whipping off the North Sea, City made heavy weather of their attempt to close the gap on Arsenal.
\nThey were denied a sixth-minute opener when Bernardo Silva\u2019s close-range strike was ruled offside after Erling Haaland flicked on Rayan Cherki\u2019s corner.
\nBrian Brobbey should have given Sunderland the lead after out-muscling Ruben Dias and racing into the penalty, but his shot was too close to City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
\nHaaland found it difficult to shake off Sunderland\u2019s imposing centre-back Nordi Mukiele in the first half.
\nThe City striker finally escaped Mukiele\u2019s attentions, only to shoot straight at Sunderland keeper Robin Roefs after Phil Foden\u2019s pass found him 10 yards from goal.
\nSunderland\u2019s Trai Hume squandered a golden opportunity when the unmarked defender headed over from 12 yards on the stroke of half-time.
\nCity\u2019s two attempts were their joint-fewest in the first half of a league game this season.
\nGuardiola responded to City\u2019s lethargy by sending on Rodri for the injury-plagued Spain midfielder\u2019s first appearance since November 2, when he played for one minute against Bournemouth.
\nSavinho was guilty of a woeful miss when he fired wide from Cherki\u2019s pass just after the interval, and the Brazilian fluffed his lines again moments later, failing to beat Roefs from close range.
\nPep Guardiola hauled off Savinho after those blunders, sending on Belgian winger Jeremy Doku after four games out with a calf injury.
\nManchester City had to ride their luck as Donnarumma saved Simon Adingra\u2019s strike at his near post before making an even better stop to repel Eliezer Mayenda\u2019s blast.
\nIn a frantic finale, Josko Gvardiol couldn\u2019t squeeze his header past Roefs.
\nGvardiol also sent an audacious back-flick against the post and had a close-range shot blocked with the goal at his mercy, leaving Guardiola to count the cost of their toothless display.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manchester City suffered a major setback to their Premier League title challenge as they were held to a 0-0 draw against Sunderland on Thursday. Pep Guardiola\u2019s side would have closed within two points of leaders Arsenal with a win at the Stadium of Light. But in their first game of 2026, they delivered a spluttering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}