Ilkay Gundogan has acknowledged that Manchester City’s aspirations of a fifth successive Premier League title could be as good as over if they lose to Liverpool on Sunday.
The current top two go head-to-head at Anfield in four days’ time with the reigning champions already eight point adrift of the pace-setting Reds, with Pep Guardiola’s side losing their last three top-flight matches.
They managed to arrest a streak of five successive defeats in all competitions on Tuesday night, but having relinquished a 3-0 lead with 15 minutes remaining at home to Feyenoord to draw 3-3, it would’ve felt like yet another loss.
Speaking about his team’s upcoming clash against Liverpool, Gundogan reflected (via ESPN): “Anfield is always tough, no matter the situation. We’ve struggled in recent years going there. We know Liverpool are a great team full of confidence right now. It’s going to be as tough as it is possible to be, but that sums up the situation right now.”
When asked if a fourth successive league defeat would realistically end City’s title ambitions, the midfielder replied: “To stay in the title race, probably yes, because 11 points would be a huge gap. It’s still early in the season.”
Recent years have taught us not to prematurely discount Man City from the Premier League title race, given how they usually embark on a lengthy winning run after New Year’s. Around the halfway mark of 2018/19 they briefly trailed Liverpool by 10 points but were still crowned champions by the end of that season.
However, never under Guardiola have they had a barren sequence of results quite like what they’ve experienced over the past month; and when even the highly experienced Gundogan feels that defeat at Anfield on Sunday would be too hard to recover from, it’s a sign of how vulnerable they feel right now.
Even if the Reds were to win at the weekend and open an 11-point gap on the Manchester outfit, a resurgent Arsenal can’t be discounted from the title picture just yet, something that Arne Slot and his players would do well to keep in mind.
The destination of the Premier League trophy won’t be decided at the weekend, but there’s a strong sense that Liverpool could dish out a seismic blow to the team who, despite their recent slump, remain our fiercest rivals at the summit.
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