Rico Lewis says Manchester City’s players can only blame themselves after letting a two-goal lead slip to draw 2-2 with Crystal Palace.
The champions dropped yet more points in the title race after Michael Olise netted from the spot in the fifth minute of stoppage time following a foul by Phil Foden.
Having been cruising 2-0 until Jean-Philippe Mateta’s goal in the 76th minute, the draw means City have won only one of their last five Premier League games.
Lewis, who scored City’s second, told the BBC: “It’s really unfortunate but we’ve got to look at ourselves and look at our individual decisions and then look at us as a group.
“We can’t blame anyone else. We can only blame ourselves for it.”
Jack Grealish scored his third goal in as many games to put the hosts ahead before Lewis’ finish after the break put them in control.
But after halving the deficit, striker Mateta earned the spot-kick by beating Foden to the ball inside the box, causing the England midfielder to trip him with his attempt to clear the ball.
On the decision to award a penalty, Lewis, 19, added: “There’s no complaints. The ref’s given it as a penalty, it’s a penalty.
“That’s all I can say. Like I said, it’s down to us. It’s our mistakes. There’s no complaints from us, only to ourselves.”
It was a day to remember for Eagles goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who marked his first Premier League start for the club by making some crucial saves.
The former Manchester United stopper said: “Manchester City are a world class team and you’ve just got to try to stay in the game as long as you can and hopefully catch them on the break which we did.
“We stuck to the game plan. The manager was unbelievable with the messages through the week.
“The boys deserve all the credit because it’s hard work against them.”
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