Manchester City's hopes of closing the gap on the Premier League pacesetters were frustrated as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to lowly West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday.

City took the lead on the half hour when Raheem Sterling did well to work his way to the byline and pull the ball back to Ilkay Gundogan who expertly side-footed home.

But West Brom, second bottom of the league, drew level two minutes before the break when a shot on the turn from Semi Ajayi hit City defender Ruben Dias and deflected past wrong-footed goalkeeper Ederson.

The hosts camped in West Brom's half throughout most of the second period but Slaven Bilic's side showed tremendous determination and defensive solidity.

"The team was working hard, a great defensive performance. We are playing against great players, we knew we are not going to see much of the ball. We defended brilliantly, it's a great point, but more than that, it shows we know what we have to do in every game," said West Bromwich's Croatian manager Slaven Bilic.

"We are defending for our lives, ready to die for each other on the pitch and that's all I can ask."

"Sam Johnstone made some great saves at the end, the two headers. I said before the season we will need a great goalkeeper and he is doing that for us. Every time we need him he is there. And we need him."

Real Madrid were made to toil by the 10 men of Athletic Bilbao but eventually won 3-1 on Tuesday thanks to two strikes from Karim Benzema to go level on points with La Liga leaders Real Sociedad.

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane hailed his forward Karim Benzema as the best French striker of all time.

Madrid played the final 77 minutes with an extra man after Raul Garcia's early red card, but the visitors did not make life easy for the champions and Ander Capa scored in the second half to cancel out Toni Kroos's opening strike.

Benzema, however, showed his class late in the game, restoring Madrid's lead by heading in a Dani Carvajal cross before rounding off the victory by finishing off a rapid counterattack in added time.

The coach was asked if his compatriot was the best French striker ever after the game and he had no doubts.

"For me he is the best, because he has spent so long at Real Madrid and he keeps proving himself," Zidane told a news conference.

"He has played over 500 games and scored so many goals. His achievements and honors speak for themselves. For me he is the best, of course."

"He is a more complete player now than he used to be. He is not a pure number nine, he doesn't just think about scoring goals and that’s what I love about him," Zidane added.

"He loves to combine with his team mates and create chances for them but he also knows how to score goals and he does that when the team needs him the most like he did today. That's what Karim is all about."