The title race is far from being over, with 10 games still to go Manchester United have not won the Premier League yet mathematically. But with a 12 points cushion over City the Red Devils will most likely cruise to their 20th league title.
Manchester City enjoyed a memorable term last year as they won the league title for the first time in over 40 years. The Citizens were widely expected to continue their blistering form to the new season, having already strengthened their squad with fresh recruits in the summer. However things turned out to be very different and City have had an unsatisfactory season. They were humiliated in the Champions League finishing at the bottom in their group and are now on the verge of failing to defend their league title.
Manchester United and Manchester City have both lost three matches in the league, but it is the eight matches City have drawn compared to United’s two which has led to them trailing in the table. Let’s take a look at five matches which might have lost City the League title this season.
Manchester City 1-1 Arsenal 23rd September 2012
This was a game in which City dominated and deservingly earned the lead in the 40th minute through a Joleon Lescott header. However City were not able to take advantage of their chances and conceded in the 82nd minute when Koscielny struck the ball past a helpless Joe Hart.
City lost two important points in this game, this was much down to a disappointing display from their front men; Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero who failed to influence the game in anyway.
West Ham 0-0 Manchester City 3rd November 2012
Another frustrating evening for City saw them drawing against newly promoted London side West Ham. It was a frustrating evening for the Citizens who created a lot of scoring opportunities but were unable to convert them into goals.
Nor did they just have a lot of shots on goal (22), they also had a quantity of possession (65%) in the opposition half but were not able to beat Jussi Jääskeläinen and the game finished 0-0. The match once again saw a disappointing performance from City strikers with both Balotelli and Edin Dzeko as mere spectators in the match.
Sunderland 1-0 Manchester City 26th December 2012
Another match in which City were the dominant side but failed to overpower the struggling Black Cats. The Etihad side enjoyed a massive 67% possession in the game and had 23 shots on goal with seven being on target, but were unable to register any goal.
City created chances from open play as well as set pieces, they were threatening on counter attack and registered a lot of long shots. It was thus very disappointing for them to not earn a deserved point. However their loss was once again down to their underperforming strikers, however credit is also due to Sunderland goalkeeper Mignolet who made some fine saves to ensure his side emerged victorious.
Queens Park Rangers 0-0 Manchester City 29th January 2013
Another Premier League outing which frustrated defending the champions was their visit to Loftus Park to face QPR. QPR had been on an appalling run in the season and had then only registered two wins in the league.
For Manchester City it was the same story all over again, they were once again dominant in possession (69%) and had much more shots on goal than QPR, but despite that they failed to register a single goal. The disappointing result was once again cited to below par finishing from Manchester City. Zabaleta came the closest when he hit the woodwork for City, but at full time the Citizens were left agonized gradually falling out in the title race.
Southampton 3-1 Manchester City 9th February 2013
The final blow to City’s title defense came in their match against Southampton, a match which was mainly down to individual errors.
Southampton were on the other hand a completely different side in this game, and put up a very impressive display. City were not the dominant side in this game, it was rather the Saints who controlled this game and created a lot of chances also making 15 shots on goal.
The match will be remembered for uncharacteristic errors from City goalkeeper Joe Hart who gifted two goals to Southampton, with Gareth Barry steering the ball in his own net from 6 yards to sum up a painful evening for Roberto Mancini’s side.
City have not lost since the Southampton game and are now on a rather unachievable quest of winning the title. City however will continue to fight and on Saturday they face a resilient Everton, who will be fighting for their own causes. It is important that Manchester City win all their remaining matches, to retain the dimmer of hope of them defending their title this season.
