MANCHESTER City’s hopes of winning a fifth successive Premier League title suffered another blow as they threw away a 2-0 lead to draw at Brentford.
The Bees trailed by two goals after 78 minutes, only for Yoane Wissa to pull one back before captain Christian Norgaard’s 92nd-minute headed equaliser saw them rescue a point in a thrilling finish.
Brentford almost stole the victory in the 95th minute, only for Nathan Ake to head Bryan Mbeumo’s curled effort off the goalline.
Pep Guardiola’s side went ahead in the 66th minute when Phil Foden leapt to cushion a side-footed volley from Kevin de Bruyne’s superb cross from the right.
But Brentford nearly equalised five minutes later, only for Ake to clear the ball off the line from Wissa’s effort after Mbeumo had set up the chance by going around City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
That miss looked to have proved costly when Foden scored his second in the 78th minute, reacting first to convert the rebound after Mark Flekken had parried Savinho’s strike.
City were on course for a third successive Premier League win but the hosts had other ideas.
Brentford pulled one back when Wissa had space to shoot home from six yards out, a goal that was his 37th for the club in the top flight and one that took him above Ivan Toney as the Bees top scorer in the Premier League.
Then, at the end of a thrilling match at the Gtech Community Stadium, Norgaard delighted the home fans with a powerful header past Ortega.
City have won the Premier League in each of the past four seasons but a run of just one win in nine league games in November and December damaged their hopes of lifting the trophy this term.
Victories over Leicester and West Ham, as well as an 8-0 thrashing of League Two Salford City in the FA Cup had boosted City morale, but this will feel like two points dropped.
“We were close and we had chances, we didn’t take the right decisions,” said City boss Pep Guardiola. “At the end they put a lot in the box and he (Norgaard) was there.
“It was an open game with a lot of chances and we were close but unfortunately we could not close it out.
“We know this is a difficult team from set-pieces and many other positions and in the end we missed the last moment. If we had better decisions then maybe it is different.”