Is City’s title race run?

Man City 2 Sunderland 2

Having lost to Liverpool at the weekend City could not afford another slip, with maximum points from their remaining six games seemingly a minimum requirement to put pressure on the league leaders.

But having stumbled at the first — and on paper least formidable — obstacle a successful chase of the rampant Reds looks unlikely, with City now six points behind Liverpool with a solitary game in hand.

"A draw is not enough because Liverpool and Chelsea are top of the table and we needed three points," admitted City boss Manuel Pellegrini.

And it could have been worse.

Despite leading through a Fernandinho goal inside two minutes, City were often second best to a Sunderland team which had seemingly been sleep-walking their way into the Championship on the back of a recent wretched run.

But Gus Poyet’s side evidently has some reserves of fight within it and Connor Wickham almost became the most unlikely of heroes.

The striker, 21, had previously scored only one Premier League goal since a big-money move from Ipswich Town in June, 2011.

He has since been farmed back out into the Championship on loan, but looked the part here in leading Sunderland’s attack.

And his two goals in the space of ten minutes late in the second half threatened to give Sunderland a famous win, and City only a second home league defeat of the season, before Samir Nasri’s late face-saver, which will give Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone nightmares.

"We knew we had to get something today and we dominated the game and should have won it," said Wickham.

Things couldn’t have started better for City. Lee Cattermole’s surrender of possession allowed the restored striking partnership of Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo, both back in City’s starting line-up as two of five changes made by Pellegrini, to click straight away.

Aguero’s pass was beautifully dummied by Negredo for Fernandinho to be left with just Mannone to beat, which he did with ease inside his left-hand post.

On the back of five straight defeats, and six out of seven since losing the Carling Cup final to City at the start of March, Sunderland could have been expected to have imploded while the City supporters, and possibly even those from Wearside, might have expected another avalanche of goals after seeing nine in the previous two home games.

But instead it was Sunderland who showed the required response to dominate the next half hour and create enough chances to be in front by half-time.

England goalkeeper Joe Hart did his best to hand former City team-mate Adam Johnson an equaliser with a terrible clearance but the chance was surpassed when John O’Shea headed wide from a Seb Larsson free-kick.

The Waterford man then headed another Larsson set-piece just over the bar as City continued to look vulnerable at the back.

A shot from Aguero, which Mannone turned into another chance for Fernandinho with a weak parry, offered only brief respite for City whose defence went AWOL again when Fabio Borini was left unattended in the penalty area but who shot wastefully across the face of goal.

Having ridden their luck, City looked to step up the pressure at the start of the second half. But again they struggled to create any worthwhile chances and Aguero and Negredo were both replaced as they still strive for full fitness.

The absence through injury of Yaya Toure and David Silva was also just as important and Sunderland were never totally cowed, finally getting their deserved equaliser with 17 minutes to go. Jack Colback had just been denied by Hart but the England goalkeeper had no chance when Ignacio Scocco crossed for Wickham to volley in.

Wickham repeated the dose 10 minutes later, delivering another assured finish with an angled driver after being released by Emanuele Gianccherini.

That finally spurred City into life and with two minutes to go they did manage to find an equaliser, although Mannone should have kept out Nasri’s low shot from 12 yards out.

Nasri could even have won it with a last-ditch shot which went over the bar. City’s title hopes are now hanging by a thread.

MANCHESTER CITY: Hart 6, Zabaleta 7, Kompany 5, Demichelis 5, Kolarov 5, Garcia 5, Milner 7, Fernandinho 6 (Rodwell 87), Negredo 6 (Dzeko 68, 5), Nasri 5, Aguero 6 (Jovetic 57, 6).

SUNDERLAND: Mannone 4, Vergini 6, Alonso 6, Brown 6, O’Shea 6, Larsson 7 (Gianccherini 68, 7), Cattermole 7, Colback 7, Wickham 8, Borini 5 (Scocco 68), Johnson 6.