Manchester City are enduring their worst season start since the 2013-2014 campaign as they got beaten 2-0 at home by Wolverhampton on Sunday, a result that left them eight points behind leaders Liverpool in the Premier League table. That was the second defeat of the season for the Citizens after the even more unlikely 3-2 loss at Norwich City in the middle of September. In the 2013-2014 campaign the Citizens went on to win the Premier League title under manager Manuel Pellegrini, but now they have to overcome the biggest gap a leader ever had after just eight matches.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is still optimistic about their chances to win the title, which would be their third in a row. "I know these guys," said Guardiola. "They are still incredibly involved and they can still do it." Liverpool were quite close to suffering their own setback on Saturday but eventually they managed to preserve their 100 percent record thanks to a stoppage-time penalty kick that was converted by James Milner, the Reds defeated Leicester City 2-1 at Anfield.
"The distance is big, I know that," Guardiola added. "For many circumstances, Liverpool didn't drop points. It is better not to think one team is eight points ahead. It is only October. There are still a lot of games." In fact, last season Manchester City had to claw back a seven-point difference towards Liverpool and they managed to do it. Back then there were 18 matches left to play in the season, now there are still 30 matches to go and two direct clashes between the two teams. The first of those clashes will take place at Anfield on 10 November.
About the performance against Wolves, Guardiola said: "It was a bad day. I had a feeling today would be the day when we created less. We have faced many teams defending deep and more or less we found a way to do it but today we had a problem." Wolverhampton punished the Citizens with two counter-attack goals from Adama Traore but they also had a few other chances that Raul Jimenez and Patrick Cutrone squandered.
Manchester City are now 6/5 at William Hill to win the Premier League title, while Liverpool are 8/11 to win it.
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