Man City came into the contest with renewed belief after they beat Nottingham Forest in midweek to end a seven-game winless run. However, the confidence built from that 3-0 victory was dented by Daniel Muñoz’s fourth-minute opener at Selhurst Park.
The Colombian latched onto Will Hughes’s inch-perfect through ball, and kept his composure to squeeze a right-footed shot past Stefan Ortega to register his second goal for the Eagles in as many matches.
Just moments later, Ortega’s opposite number Dean Henderson was required to make an important save to deny Erling Haaland from point-blank range.
The Premier League champions continued to create chances, with İlkay Gündoğan striking the woodwork before Savinho curled the rebound wide of the far post.
At the opposite end of the pitch, the Cityzens were made to work hard to keep the deficit to one, as Rúben Dias made a last-ditch block to keep out Jefferson Lerma’s driven strike.
Dias' decisive intervention was made to look even more impressive when Haaland restored parity just two minutes later, as the Norwegian nodded home his 13th league goal of the season after he met Matheus Nunes’ inviting delivery ahead of Henderson.
After seeing his side pull level before the break, Pep Guardiola would have been bitterly disappointed to see his team give up parity in the opening stages of the second period.
Palace defender Maxence Lacroix towered above Kyle Walker to power a header home from Hughes’ deep corner, giving the midfielder his second assist of the contest.
However, like the first period, City were able to find a response to a Palace goal, with Rico Lewis whipping an unstoppable strike into the top corner after being teed up by Bernardo Silva.
Unfortunately for Lewis, his joy turned to despair when he was given his marching orders in the 84th minute after being shown a second yellow for a challenge on Trevoh Chalobah.
The depleted visitors stood firm to hold on to a solitary point, leaving them in fourth spot and a whopping eight points adrift of the summit having played a game more than the leaders, while the Eagles move four points clear of the relegation zone.