After losing to Chelsea, Man City will have to wait for the EPL title.

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City has yet to enjoy any title festivities, just annoyance.

After losing 2-1 to Chelsea on Saturday, City only needs one victory from its final three games to win the English Premier League for the third time in four seasons.

Surely, that's enough breathing room for City to maintain their lead and for Sergio Agüero not to be regretting his missed penalty in first-half stoppage time, just after Raheem Sterling's opener.

Rather than slamming the ball into the net, City's all-time leading scorer casually chipped a "Panenka" penalty centrally, which Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved with one hand.

It's no surprise that Fernandinho threw his arms in the air and Eric Garcia threw a florescent bib over his head on the substitutes' bench.

After Hakim Ziyech levelled from a Cesar Azpilicueta counterattack in the 63rd minute, the City substitutes howled in frustration again, flinging their arms up. This time, they had their sights set on referee Anthony Taylor.

Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma clipped Sterling in the penalty area, but no second spot kick was awarded, no matter how much City manager Pep Guardiola chastised fourth official Jonathan Moss — despite City manager Pep Guardiola's repeated requests for a full VAR review.

“I thought VAR was here to help, but it wasn't to be,” Sterling explained. “The referee said it was checked, cleared, and was not a penalty, but it was for me.”

In 2012, a stoppage-time goal by Agüero sealed City's first Premier League title with almost the final kick of the season. Nine years later, Marcos Alonso's injury-time goal for Chelsea ruined the party.

“We had opportunities to win the game,” Sterling said. “We didn't, so we got punished.”

It's still time to do the work. In fact, if second placed Manchester United loses any one of its three games before it plays in Newcastle again Friday, it could be won. But the 13-point leadership of the city will be reduced to four if United wins all three.

This victory was important to Chelsea because in January, Frank Lampard was fired and Thomas Tuchel was hired in the western club in London, which moved into third place, with five points from the four Champions League places.

The Champions League would win a spot, regardless of domestic competition, but in the last three weeks, Chelsea would have had to overcome City once more.

For the Champions League finals it wasn't much a dress rehearsal. More than an undergraduate stage.

After Guardiola played Rodri as the only midfielder, Sterling said, "We played a system which we're not used to."

How much do you regret Guardiola's nine changes to the City side on Tuesday that beat Paris Saint-Germain?

"We can learn and move forward," said Guardiola. "Three more chances are for us to be champions."

But, as of last month's semifinal of the FA Cup, Tuchel also made 5 modifications to the victory over Real Madrid.

"If they're going to score the penalty before it starts, you can't get back 2-0," said Tuchel. "The reaction and performance in the second half impressed me. You need luck, you'll need decisions made by the referee, if you want to steal all three points here after being down.