Lack of Consistency Threatening Manchester City’s Season

Winning streaks have been largely deployed by teams to win the Premier League title several times in the last decade.

After Manchester City went on a 15-game winning run to claim the 2018/19 Premier League title, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool decided to copy the winning formula. The Reds put together an incredible 18-game winning streak spanning from October 2019 to February 2020.

That put the team in pole position to claim the club’s first league title of the Premier League era. Not even a rampaging Manchester City that had been the dominant team in the land for the previous years could prevent Liverpool from sitting atop the league table at the end of the campaign.

It’s the power of a winning streak. A long one comes second only to an unbeatable season which has so far been achieved only by Arsenal. But where such is not achievable, teams go for the next best thing; a long winning streak. Manchester City have deployed it to achieve success on several occasions especially under Pep Guardiola.

Starting from a stoppage time victory at Bournemouth on August 26, City wrapped up 18 straight victories with a hard-earned 1-0 win at Newcastle on December 27 in 2017. The second part of the season was just about seeing the team safely through to Guardiola’s first Premier League title triumph.

The Catalan manager put together some less spectacular winning runs in the next campaign to secure a second successful league title. That acted more or less as a means to silence the critics.

But City surrendered the title to Liverpool in the 2019/2020 campaign. The Reds put up an 18-match winning run of their own that lasted from October 2019 to February 2020. The Blues stormed back last season to wrestle back the crown from the Anfield side.

However, this season has been less predictable with Arsenal surprisingly getting into the mix. City would have had a straight road to the title as the usual title rivals Liverpool and Chelsea have failed to live up to expectations. But Mikel Arteta is turning heads with the Gunners.

The only saviour at a time like this would be a long winning streak. Unfortunately, City have not been able to muster one since the beginning of the season. Game after game the possibility of that happening is looking less and less likely.

The Blues have been consistent in inconsistency either side of the World Cup. Losing to Brentford on the eve of the tournament seemed like just another bad day in the office. But the unexpected bad results have persisted.

Just six wins in the last 11 league games shows a record of one win in every two games. That’s simply too inconsistent to win the Premier League title. With Arsenal’s belief getting stronger by the day and the team even scoring last minute goals to secure wins, City must straighten up to have any chance of bridging the gap on the table and emerging champions come season’s end.