LONDON: Manchester City’s Premier League title hopes were dealt a crushing blow when they were held to a 2-2 draw by bottom club Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.

Everton suffered a shock 3-2 home defeat by mid-table Crystal Palace at Goodison Park to put a huge dent in their bid for a top-four finish.

Beaten 3-2 at leaders Liverpool on Sunday, City were bidding to close to within four points of Brendan Rodgers’ side in the first of their two games in hand.

Fernandinho’s second-minute goal put City on track but after Connor Wickham scored twice in the last 17 minutes, the hosts needed a fortuitous 88th-minute equaliser from Samir Nasri just to rescue a point.

The result left City, champions in 2012 and runners-up to neighbours Manchester United last season, third in the table on 71 points from 33 matches, six behind Liverpool and four adrift of Chelsea with only one game in hand.

Liverpool are in pole position to claim their first English title in 24 years, but they still have to play Chelsea at Anfield on April 27.

“We did not play well but we had in our mind the game against Liverpool,” City manager Manuel Pellegrini told Sky Sports.

“It is not enough because we have Liverpool and Chelsea on top of the table and we needed to add three points — will see in the future what will happen but our chances are less.”

Pressure also seems to have struck Everton’s battle for the last Champions League spot with Arsenal.

Everton became the latest team to slip up against Palace to end their seven-match winning run and miss the chance of reclaiming fourth place from Arsenal, who are one point ahead with four matches remaining.

“We wanted to win so much that we stopped being ourselves,” Everton manager Roberto Martinez said, “and that is what we have to learn from.”

Everton fell behind in the 23rd minute when Marouane Chamakh teed up Jason Puncheon to score. Second-half goals from Scott Dann and Cameron Jerome completed victory for Tony Pulis’ side, with substitute Steven Naismith and Kevin Mirallas replying in vain for the hosts.

Palace’s fourth straight win means the side can surely start preparing for another season in the top flight and lends further weight to many pundits’ argument that Pulis is the manager of the season.

When Pulis took over in November, Palace were bottom and six points from safety — now, they are 11th and 10 points above the relegation zone with 40 points.

“I think we are safe,” said Pulis, who succeeded Ian Holloway. “My first game, when we went to Hull, we had four points, so to get to 40 points is a fantastic achievement for this group of players.”

Sunderland remained rooted to the bottom of the table with 26 points from 33 matches, six points adrift of 17th-placed Norwich City but could have been a lot closer if goalkeeper Vito Mannone had gathered Nasri’s shot rather than fumbling it into the back of the net.

That could be the difference between staying in the Premier League and being relegated.

“It’s one more blow,’’ Sunderland manager Gus Poyet said. “I tell you what, I’m testing my heart this year.”