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.
Fernandinho got City off to the perfect start with a goal after two minutes, but Connor Wickham's double put struggling Sunderland ahead before Samir Nasri snatched a late equaliser.
Manuel Pellegrini's City, beaten 3-2 at leaders Liverpool on Sunday, stayed third in the table on 71 points from 33 matches, six behind Liverpool and four adrift of Chelsea with only one game in hand.
"We did not play well but we had in our mind the game against Liverpool," 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."
Sunderland remained rooted to the bottom of the table with 26 points from 33 matches, six points adrift of 17th-placed Norwich City.
"We deserved better," manager Gus Poyet said. "We conceded a goal after two minutes at Manchester City and every single person in the world expected us to lose from there.
"But we passed the ball and created chances. We kept believing."
