Manchester City have been in trickier positions than the one they find themselves in right now and have still found a way to win the Premier League. You only have to cast your mind back to the 2018/2019 season when Pep Guardiola’s charges trailed Liverpool by ten points in December only to pip the Reds to the title on the final day of the season.
Similarly, City looked dead and buried against Aston Villa on the final day of the 2022/2023 season as they trailed Steven Gerrard’s team 2-0 after 75 minutes. Elsewhere, Liverpool were beating Wolves at Anfield and looked on course to give City a taste of what losing the title at the eleventh hour felt like. However, City would rally and by the 81st minute, miraculously led Villa 3-2. Guardiola’s men would hold onto the lead and win the Premier League.
How will City respond this time?
With this in mind, you would be forgiven for not reading too much into the fact that City lie six points behind league leaders Arsenal after matchday 15.
This nonchalance around City’s current league position is also reflected in the latest betting markets as the Sky Blues remain the favorites to win the title at odds of -110. Nigerian football fans who feel confident that City will haul in the league leaders sooner rather than later can claim a host of generous welcome bonuses from various bookmakers such as Bet9ja, 1xBet, and Betway when they visit the Bettors NG website. With football the most popular sport in Nigeria, the title race odds are sure to be a talking point throughout the Christmas period as teams jostle for supremacy.
The reality is that it has been a long time since Nigerian fans saw City at odds of almost evens to win the league and as recently as the start of November, the club were at -400 to make it a fourth title in a row. The question is, what is the likelihood of City’s odds continuing to rise?
This will naturally depend on how quickly Guardiola can turn this uncharacteristic run of form around; City’s 1-0 reverse at Villa Park on the 6th of December was the fourth game that the club went without a win. To some degree, it is a telling run of form as Guardiola has never gone five games without a victory in the entirety of his managerial career.
Again, the temptation is to dismiss a stat like this and rather wait for the status quo at the summit of the Premier League to be restored. It may, however, be slightly more challenging this time around given the level of competition City will face and the club’s reliance on a few key players.
City face unique challenges in quest for fourth consecutive title
Indeed, Arsenal look like a team ready to win the Premier League and are beginning to show telltale signs of being champions in waiting. A never-say-die 4-3 win over Luton on the 5th of December thanks to a Declan Rice header in the 96th minute was further indication of the Gunners’ determination to go all the way in 2024.
Never. Give. Up. ✊ pic.twitter.com/TAz9l8QTsr
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 6, 2023
Meanwhile, City are battling to match the pace set by Mikel Arteta’s team when they are not a full strength. In particular, the overdependence on Rodri is starting to become City’s Achilles heel. Damningly, the club’s last five defeats have all come when the holding midfielder wasn’t playing and Guardiola’s refusal to fill the void with Kalvin Phillips means that City have an unsolvable problem if Rodri picks up an injury.
Essentially, while previous trends might indicate that it will only be a matter of time before City begin surging up the league table again, there are significant hurdles in the way this time which might prevent them from doing that.
After winning three titles in a row, it was inevitable that this history-making run would come to an end at some stage. The world of football will have to wait and see if one of the greatest Premier League dynasties falls during the 2023/2024 season.