Just as the English top flight was beginning to feel depressingly like another one-club league, Manchester City have lost three games in four, including two on the bounce in the Premier League, to suggest they are fallible after all.
All three defeats have come without Rodri, City’s midfield lynchpin, who will serve the final game of a three-match ban when the champions return to action against Brighton after the international break — which suddenly looks a more open contest than before his suspension.
There are other factors in City’s drop-off but their over-reliance on Rodri has come as a surprise given the perceived depth of Pep Guardiola’s squad; another suspension or an injury to the Spaniard, and things might start to get really interesting.
City are also missing talisman Kevin De Bruyne, who is sidelined with a hamstring injury, while Ìlkay GündoÄan’s summer move to Barcelona has left a gaping hole in the midfield. Mateo KovaÄiÄ and Matheus Nunes, signed as replacements, are not on GündoÄan’s level, and KovaÄiÄ is lucky to be available for the Brighton game after somehow escaping a red card in Sunday’s 1-0 loss at Arsenal.
Erling Haaland is still Erling Haaland, although he is without a goal in three matches and, logically, it will be hard for the Norwegian to match last season’s extraordinary scoring feats when opponents are more aware of his threats — or, at least, how to limit his supply, as Arsenal did so effectively.
Perhaps, too, City have lost a fraction of their hunger after sweeping the board last season with an historic treble.
All that said, doubting City under Guardiola is a fool’s game and history suggests it would be rash to draw firm conclusions from one-goal defeats to Wolves and the Gunners.
At this stage of last season, City had also dropped points in two of their first eight league games, albeit in draws with Newcastle and Aston Villa, and they trailed Arsenal by eight points in mid-January, only to hit their stride menacingly soon after.
This is often the way of it with Guardiola teams, which tend to click into top gear in the second half of the campaign, and Rodri and De Bruyne will soon be back and their summer signings up to speed.
If City are to be stopped, there needs to be a team to stop them and, encouragingly, three clubs are emerging as potential title rivals so far. Arsenal appear the likeliest challengers after pushing City most of the way last term and their long-overdue win at the weekend finally broke a hoodoo against the Citizens and suggests Mikel Arteta’s side are developing a canny ability to grind out results to go alongside their exhilarating football.
Increasingly, Arsenal are one of the best teams in Europe without the ball, which has much to do with pipping City to the signing of Declan Rice.
Eking out wins while not playing particularly well is not always a bellwether for success, however, and Arteta will want his side to start producing top performances to go with their encouraging results.
Top of the table (above Arsenal on goals scored) are Tottenham, and if there can be said to be a title race at this stage of the season, Spurs are in it.
Ange Postecoglou’s transformed side are unbeaten and have already played three of their “big six” rivals in Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. They beat two, and showed character to score last-minute winners against Sheffield United and Liverpool, as well as see off Luton with 10 men.
They have also, though, played all three promoted clubs and struggling Bournemouth and have very little in the way of squad depth.
Lose any one of Postecoglou’s current XI and Spurs may quickly start to struggle to play the Australian’s football; a drop-off is expected, even without European football.
Liverpool are also surely back in title contention, powered by the peerless Mohamed Salah, an exciting new-look midfield and perhaps a burning sense of injustice after the officiating scandal in their defeat at Spurs. The Reds have impressive depth and of all the challengers, Jurgen Klopp’s side know exactly what it takes to finish above City, having been the only club to beat them to the title in the last six years.
Given City’s overwhelming dominance under Guardiola, there remains a chance that Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool could end up fighting to be the best of the rest come May, although there are tentative signs that the champions could be more vulnerable this season than they have been in years.
If nothing else, that is good news for fans of a competitive Premier League and a more open title race.
