Manchester City midfielder İlkay Gündoğan admitted that his side’s hopes of winning a record-extending fifth consecutive Premier League title will almost certainly be over with a loss against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
The 34-year-old scored his team's second goal yesterday in the 3-3 home draw against Feyenoord in the UEFA Champions League, in which they surrendered a 3-0 lead after the 75th minute, extending a winless run to six matches in all competitions. It's the club’s worst run of form since 2006.
Manchester City currently sits eight points behind league leaders Liverpool, as the two teams prepare to meet on Sunday. And Gündoğan believes that if his team loses on the weekend, the subsequent 11-point gap between both teams may prove too large to surmount, even with only 13 matches played.
"To stay in the title race, probably yes, [City cannot lose], because 11 points would be a huge gap," Gündoğan said after the draw.
“Anfield is always tough, no matter the situation. We’ve struggled in recent years going there and we know Liverpool are a great team full of confidence right now."
Gündoğan, who rejoined the club for free in the summer after spending last season playing for Barcelona, added that yesterday’s result felt as tough as a defeat, despite the draw ending Manchester City’s five-game losing streak in all competitions.
To make matters worse, Anfield has been a ground where Manchester City have historically struggled to secure victory over the years, with only a single win from their previous 24 away encounters against Liverpool.
Nevertheless, the German remains hopeful that a positive result in Sunday’s match may provide the team with enough impetus to kickstart their form once again.
“It’s [Sunday’s match] going to be as tough as it is possible to be, but that sums up the situation right now. It seems we have to go through this season the toughest way possible.
“Obviously we’ve done this ourselves a little bit, but hopefully we can get out of that as quickly as possible, especially in such a big game. It would give ourselves a boost to perform well and then obviously to get something out of the game.”
If Manchester City is to overturn the eight points between it and Liverpool at the summit, Guardiola's side will have to overcome some notably damning statistics.
Only once in Premier League history has there been a greater gap than the eight points between Liverpool in first and Manchester City in second place at this stage of the season. Manchester United in the 1993-94 season, led the league by nine points with 12 matches played, before going to claim that year's title, alongside the FA Cup to claim the club's first-ever 'Double'.
Liverpool, under new manager Arne Slot, has started the season in tremendous form, winning 10 of its opening 12 league matches. Indeed, only two teams have failed to win the Premier League after 10+ wins from their first 12 Premier League games: Newcastle in the 1995-96 season, and Arsenal, in the 2022-23 season.
READ THE LATEST MANCHESTER CITY NEWS, PREVIEWS, PREDICTIONS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND MORE
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Manchester City's Ilkay Gundogan Admits Premier League Title Hopes Are in Jeopardy.
