Manchester City entered Christmas in fifth place, ahead of Premier League leaders Arsenal, but they know better than anyone that the table doesn’t guarantee a title winner at this time of year.
Manchester City are on the roll as world champions and their Premier League rivals received an extra Christmas present this weekend.
First, Aston Villa missed out on spending Christmas at the top of the table with a draw at Sheffield United, while Liverpool and Arsenal shared the points at Anfield, leaving City six points adrift.
Whether you feel good or bad at Christmas often determines what happens at the end of the season, but City know better than anyone how flawed that logic is. In the last five title-winning seasons, they’ve only won twice on Christmas Day, and only two of the last five champions have topped the turkey dinner.
Not even a bottom five for City is a problem. They have not finished a gameweek in fifth place since September 2021, when they started the campaign a week behind their opponents. But last season they finished eighth, eight points behind leaders Liverpool, by Christmas.
City are one game away from ending their 15-game winning streak, with Liverpool in third. There are fewer places and fewer points left for City to reclaim top spot this season, and this weekend’s fixtures are a reminder that the title race is tighter than ever this season.
City have lost to Arsenal and Villa and drawn with Liverpool thanks to late goals this season. Arsenal and Liverpool drew, but Villa beat Arsenal 1-0. City drew with Tottenham, who drew with Arsenal, and beat Liverpool 2–1 before losing 2–1 to Villa. Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Villa was their only clean sheet in the top five.
Ironically, City have not beaten any of the top teams and will need to improve if they are to overtake them. They didn’t fare well against Arsenal and Villa, hosted the Etihad at the end of the season and were guilty of dropping points against Liverpool and Spurs.
In these big games, being clinical in both boxes could be the difference between winning a fourth straight title or seeing someone else lift the trophy.The big game isn’t the only thing City have come under fire for. Tonight’s defeats to Chelsea and Crystal Palace added to the panic by dropping points in the top five, while the defeat at Wolves showed just how important Rhodri is.
Finding a solid replacement for Rodri will no doubt be high on Pep Guardiola’s to-do list for Christmas and into 2024. Next up is Kevin De Bruyne. The talisman has returned to training after playing just 23 minutes all season and will give Guardiola a huge boost in the new year.
The challenge will be finding a rotation system that brings De Bruyne back in and allows Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden to continue their good form.Guardiola has yet to decide whether to select a left-back and is deputizing for centre-backs due to John Stones’ return from injury. After the first half of the season was halted by persistent injuries, City will be hoping to continue their success after Christmas.
The team were hoping to make an impact on their league form with a win from six at the Club World Cup. Add to that the huge number of games to come and the big games that will decide the race for the top five, and there’s no reason why City can’t do what they did in 2021.
