Anyone fed up with Manchester City’s absolute dominance in the Premier League must love their up-and-down season, but how did Pep Guardiola react to the four-time defending champions’ recent two dropped points?

One of determination, it seems.

Guardiola said he liked how his 10-man team fought in the 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace City equalized twice at Selhurst Park through Erling Haaland and then Rico Lewis.

But Lewis was sent off for a second yellow card and Guardiola lamented another missing player for next weekend’s Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium.

City again dominated possession but Palace managed a similar number of shot attempts and took a 1-0 and 2-1 lead thanks to assists from Will Hughes for Daniel Munoz and Maxence Lacroix.

Guardiola’s team has conceded many goals during a long series of injuries. Rodri is obviously out this year, while Manuel Akanji, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Mateo Kovacic all missed the trip to Palace.

The absences have prevented Guardiola from truly rotating the team and he will almost certainly address this during his post-match press conference.

Pep Guardiola reaction – How did the Manchester City manager react to the latest thriller?

Pep Guardiola’s post-match interview featured curt answers expressing his disappointment at an undermanned squad made larger by a red card for Rico Lewis.

On his team’s performance: “Really good, so proud as a team. I like everything about my team and how we fought in the situation we are in. … We have a lot of problems with the team, it’s mainly because of that.”

“We fought incredibly. We came back to a difficult place twice. We had problems at the beginning, but we gave it our all and will get a point.”

“Long ball, second ball, they were stronger than us. They tried to link Rico’s position. The tradition they have is that they are fast, but in general it has been good.”

“We started the second half a bit sloppily, but we had the intention of attacking and scoring. We scored the second goal and unfortunately we couldn’t play with 11 at the end of the game.”

On Rico Lewis’s yellow card, which led to the injuries: “We lost another defensive player for the next game because of a second yellow card. It is what it is, so let’s carry on.”

Reaction from Bernardo Silva – Man City star complains about injuries and squad size

“(It’s difficult in games) three days after three days,” Silva said. “Of course we don’t feel sorry for ourselves.”

“I had the feeling on the pitch that we had the ball, controlled the game and created a few chances, but we didn’t control it the way we wanted. We need to get back to doing the simple things right. When the players come back it will help a lot.

“We have to fight with what we have at the moment. But with a squad of 20 players, having 13 is not enough. With the schedule we have, that’s not enough.”

Rico Lewis red card video – Second yellow card for a sliding challenge