An unbroken cobalt-blue sky signalled a perfect, gloriously crisp winter’s day but, for Pep Guardiola, rain clouds might as well have lurked at every turn. As a jubilant, critic-confounding, former Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey celebrated his late equaliser for Newcastle United in front of the Manchester City manager’s technical area, Guardiola’s hopes of retaining the Premier League title seemed as weak as the low, late November sun.

England’s biggest domestic honour already seems the Anfield club’s to lose and even before Jürgen Klopp’s side opened up an 11-point lead at the top of the table the City manager was hardly in the best of humours.

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“It’s not a good idea to think about how many points we need; we have to win games,” said Guardiola as Shelvey joked that he was probably more popular on Merseyside than he had ever been as a Liverpool player. “I might be a hero there now,” said the midfielder, leaving City’s manager to lament bad luck and “very deep” Newcastle defending.

Yet, although Guardiola maintained “our performance was good”, his players lacked the sheer, opponent flattening intensity of last season while their hosts’ exhilarating attacking pace diminished the value of considerable visiting ball monopoly. Several individual performances were poor with Riyad Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus blunt in attack and Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy, the latter in particular, struggling at full-back.

It was the first time Guardiola and Steve Bruce had locked managerial horns but, if Rafael Benítez’s successor could not quite reprise the victory Newcastle enjoyed against City here last season, they showed commendable spirit in twice answering back after first Raheem Sterling and then Kevin De Bruyne had put the visitors ahead.

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Low, very low, on possession, Bruce’s team initially sat back and watched De Bruyne control midfield during a first half in which City’s dominance was occasionally disrupted by rapid bursts of acceleration from Newcastle’s £77m attacking trident of Miguel Almíron, Joelinton and, especially, the ever entertaining Allan Saint-Maximin.

Such cameos apart, there was a sense of inevitability when David Silva and Sterling combined to score with the Spaniard’s back-heeled flick finding Sterling unmarked and set to lash the ball beyond Martin Dubravka.

So far, so apparently straightforward for Guardiola’s players but their apparent vulnerability to the pace of Saint-Maximin and Almíron offered Bruce a degree of hope. While Walker looked distinctly uneasy whenever the former Nice winger accelerated down the home left and Jetro Willems overlapped, Almíron persistently fazed Mendy.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kevin De Bruyne lashes in a late thunderbolt that Manchester City must have thought would be the winner. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Newcastle’s manager had resisted a growing clamour to rest the Paraguay playmaker and such faith was vindicated when his exchange of passes with Willems created an equaliser for the Netherlands left wing-back. Generous space had opened up in front of Willems and, after taking a steadying touch, he evaded Ederson’s reach with a powerfully swerving shot, delivered with his supposedly weaker right foot. Remarkably it was Almíron’s first assist since joining Newcastle for £21m from MLS Atlanta in January.

He is still waiting for a debut goal and his penalty-area confidence has drained accordingly but, damning as those bald statistics seem, they neglect to tell the whole story. There have been several games in which the unselfish Almíron has effectively switched the lights on for Newcastle and his habit of alternating flanks with Saint-Maximin as they sporadically swept Bruce’s side high up the pitch ensured City could never properly relax.

With tight marking restricting De Bruyne’s room for manoeuvre City briefly looked out of ideas but, after Shelvey wasted a free-kick in a menacing position, they finally galvanised themselves, began sucking Newcastle markers out of position and tested their hosts’ collective powers of concentration. The time had come for Dubravka to shine in the home goal and he did not disappoint. Most notably, the Slovakian made a stunning double save from first Jesus and then De Bruyne.

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There was barely a hint of a breeze but suddenly Bruce’s players were in the eye of an attacking storm. Despite the best efforts of Federico Fernández and Paul Dummett, their defensive lines were finally breached when the resurgent De Bruyne intercepted a defensive header, chesting it down imperiously before restoring the visitors’ lead with an unstoppable volley which flew in off the underside of the bar.

Guardiola’s look of quiet contentment was not destined to endure, though. When Fernandinho felled Javier Manquillo on the edge of the area Christian Atsu pulled the free-kick back for Shelvey to send a superlative 25-yard shot curving inexorably into the top corner.

“I’ve been pleased with Jonjo in the last few weeks,” said Bruce. “Was his or De Bruyne’s the better goal? I’ll let you decide.” No prize for guessing what Klopp’s answer would be.