Manchester City blew a two-goal lead as Yoane Wissa and Christian Nørgaard scored late goals to earn hosts Brentford a 2-2 draw in a Premier League thriller on Tuesday.

After six league defeats in November and December, City bounced back with a draw against Everton and wins over Leicester City and West Ham, but Tuesday’s late collapse brought the short-lived recovery to an abrupt halt.

This point leaves them sixth in the table on 35 points, 12 behind leaders Liverpool, who were held to a 1-1 draw at second-placed Nottingham Forest, while the Bees are in 10th on 28 points after a highly unlikely comeback.

After struggling to create chances in the first half, Man City winger Savinho almost broke the deadlock in the 50th minute, marching forward through the left channel before firing a shot at the foot of the net the post fired.

Two minutes later, Erling Haaland headed straight at the goalkeeper, even though he should have scored.

City’s breakthrough finally came in the 66th minute when a brilliant ball from the right from Kevin De Bruyne was met with a clever volley from Foden, who headed it towards the far post.

The game should have ended when Foden made it 2-0 twelve minutes later, reacting quickest to fire the rebound into the goal after Savinho’s initial shot was blocked to silence the home crowd.

However, four minutes later, Brentford’s Wissa provided a nervy finish when he fired home from close range to reduce the deficit and, with City’s defenders having made several last-ditch attempts to protect their lead, they would have taken the lead Brentford must be aware of the danger they pose.

Danish international Nørgaard completed the comeback two minutes into stoppage time and had enough power to fire his glancing header past Stefan Ortega, despite the City keeper’s strong hand.

City coach Pep Guardiola was animated at the final whistle, hugging and swearing at his goalkeeper after another disappointing performance at his side.

“In the end we just looked tired in the last 20 minutes, we looked leggy,” Foden said. “They put longer balls in the box and in the end we didn’t deal with the physicality.”

“It’s definitely a continuation of before and the performances are much better than they were. We still have a ways to go to get to where we want to be, but as long as we continue to take small steps and improve, that’s what we’re aiming to do.”

Things looked much better for the Brentford players after their performance of character was rewarded with a point.

“I don’t know how we did it,” Nørgaard said. “We stayed in the game even though we were 2-0 down. We persevered… And I’m proud of how we managed to get back into the game.”

“We’re not here to lose by a margin, so when Wissa got one back… I don’t know how I ended up there, but it was nice to see it go in. Even if I’m not a striker, I tend to do that. Listen in the meetings, I just attacked the gap and was lucky to see it close.