The loss to the Red Devils leaves City 14 points off the pace in the Premier League and in need of an unprecedented feat to retain their title
Saturday’s 2-1 defeat in the Manchester derby at the hands of United has seen Pep Guardiola set an unwelcome personal milestone.
Manchester City’s return of 32 points after 16 games is the worst start to a season for the Catalan during his managerial career, with him previously having been in charge of Barcelona and Bayern Munich before his move to England.
The defeat sees the Blues end the day 14 points behind leaders Liverpool, who cruised to a 3-0 victory away at Bournemouth earlier on Saturday.
City could find themselves six points behind second-placed Leicester City if the Foxes can win against Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon. Brendan Rodgers’s side have won their last seven Premier League games, last losing to Liverpool on October 5.
The situation is much rosier in the Manchester United dugout, meanwhile.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was never on the winning side away to Manchester City in his playing career, but has now overseen wins over both City and Tottenham in the space of less than a week. As a result, the Red Devils have moved into fifth place in the table, albeit five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.
Solskjaer’s men were the first team to go 2-0 up in the first half an hour of a game at the Etihad Stadium since Liverpool in November 2015, with Marcus Rashford scoring a penalty and Anthony Martial adding the second.
They held on to win despite a nervy last 10 minutes after Nicolas Otamendi scored to halve the deficit.
No club has ever been 14 points behind the Premier League leaders at any stage of a season and gone on to win the title, with City now having to buck that trend if they are to seal a third straight league success.
They can take heart from one stat though: Liverpool are guaranteed to spend Christmas at the top of the tree, but are the only club to have been in first place on December 25 and not go on to win the title.
The Reds have done so three times; most recently last season, when City overcame to win the Premier League by just one point.
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