A wasteful Man City was held to a draw by Aston Villa at home while Liverpool also dropped points against Everton to give hopes to their title challengers.
Erling Haaland continued his goal-scoring streak but City was left frustrated as Leon Bailey equalised for the hosts to share the spoils 1-1.
The signs of frustration were there from the beginning as misplaced paces and missed chances were the theme of the day for the Cityzens. Kyle Walker squandered a golden opportunity to score, choosing to shoot wide instead of passing it off to an unmarked Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian would put the visitors in front with his 10th goal of the season when Kevin De Bruyne delivered an inch-perfect cross for him to bundle in the back of the net. De Bruyne almost put City further ahead with a free-kick that skimmed the top of the crossbar in the 67th minute, while Haaland worked Martinez shortly after with a right-footed effort inside the penalty area.
Aston Villa then made Man City pay for missed chances when Bailey smashed the ball past Ederson in the 74th minute to equalize.
The draw leaves City in second place on 14 points, one behind leaders Arsenal who face Manchester United at Old Trafford tonight (Sunday).
Meanwhile, City’s main rivals Liverpool also endured a frustrating 0-0 draw against Everton with Jordan Pickford and Allison keeping their sides in the contest. It follows a string of poor results which sees the Reds sitting in sixth with just two wins from their opening six fixtures.
In other games, Brentford smashed Leeds 5-2, Bournemouth comeback from two goals down to beat Nottingham Forest 3-2, Tottenham narrowly beat Fulham 2-1 and Chelsea overcame West Ham 2-1 courtesy of a dubious foul call which ruled out a West Ham equaliser.
