Manchester City lost their fourth game in a row 2-1 at Brighton on Saturday, fueling growing speculation that this could finally be the end.
The four-time reigning Premier League champions took the lead through Erling Haaland but then collapsed and could find themselves five points behind Liverpool at the top of the EPL table by the end of the day.
They conceded two goals in six minutes against Brighton, during a 25-minute period in which they did not take a single shot. And they looked nothing like the team that ruled English football for the better part of the last seven years.
The four defeats – against Tottenham in the League Cup, against Bournemouth in the Premier League, against Sporting CP in the Champions League and now against Brighton – equal City’s total for the entirety of last season. And of course this season is less than three months old.
It is also the first time Pep Guardiola has ever lost four games in a row in his managerial career.
A spate of injuries has contributed to City’s sudden decline. Once Kevin de Bruyne and Rúben Dias, Jérémy Doku and Jack Grealish, John Stones and others are fit, City will be better. They also struggled with injuries last season, falling behind Arsenal, losing to Aston Villa in December… and then not losing for the rest of the season until they lifted the EPL trophy.
But Rodri’s biggest injury this time won’t heal until next season.
His absence has left a gaping hole in City’s midfield. Their battle without the Spaniard – who tore his cruciate ligament in September – has vindicated his 2024 Ballon d’Or win and proven his irreplaceability.
With Mateo Kovacic trying and failing to replace him, City’s defense is more porous than ever under Guardiola. They have conceded 15.4 expected goals – an advanced statistic that measures the quantity and quality of chances created – across eleven league games. That is significantly more than – and in some cases more than twice as much as – all of Guardiola’s previous City teams had conceded at this stage of the season.
There is still plenty of time to right all these wrongs. At worst, City are still a close second favorite to claim another Premier League title. Come May, they could well be back at the top of the league, as they have often been since Guardiola’s second season.
But by then, more than a hundred charges for breaking financial rules could have far more extreme consequences than a potential second-place finish.
The end of City’s reign appears, now more than ever before, to be near.
