Second-placed Manchester United were average in a defensive 0-0 draw away to Crystal Palace on a wet night in London, while third-placed Leicester City could manage a 1-1 draw at lowly Burnley.
Elsewhere, Bottom club Sheffield United kept their hopes of survival faintly alive with a 1-0 home win over Aston Villa.
But Manchester United’s dour display was the main talking point as City took another step towards the title without needing to kick a ball.
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “Disappointing. Just a little bit off and I think I said to you before the game when youre off and not spot on youre not going to win games.
“Palace are a side that always make it hard for you and they did again. In the first half we were too slow to start with. They had a bright start.
“We played well for a little spell, but couldn’t score the goal. In the second half we never got going.
“We made some changes and we had one or two decent opportunities, but not enough of course. We had a couple of moments but we didn’t take them.”
United remains second on 51 points, having drawn four of their past five Premier League games, while they’ve had three 0-0 draws in a row in all competitions.
They’re one point ahead of Leicester City who needed a 34th minute Kelechi Iheanacho goal to level at Burnley, who went ahead early from Matej Vydra.
With eight first-team players out, Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers wasn’t too displeased with the result, when he said: “Probably a point was fair. We certainly didn’t start the game (well).
“We showed good moments, but we have to show a lot more moments and be a lot more precise with our passing, but overall, it was a point and we move onto the next game.”