Man City have been here before in Premier League title race amid Club World Cup 'break'

Attention remains on Saudi Arabia and Manchester City potentially winning their first ever Club World Cup, but should their supporters be looking a little closer to home?

City currently sit fourth in the Premier League, but they could end up outside the Champions League places on Christmas Day, potentially only three points ahead of misfiring rivals Manchester United. That would represent their worst position at this stage of a campaign - with the exception of the Covid-ravaged 2020/21 season - since 2009.

City's only win in their last six Premier League matches saw them scraping past a lowly Luton team on their first ever Premier League visit to Kenilworth Road. Their dry run of form has seen them lose to Aston Villa - as well as dropping points against Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham.

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Pep Guardiola's team were also dumped out of the Carabao Cup in September - a competition they've dominated in recent years - winning it six times since 2014. The battle for Premier League glory this season seems sterner than last with Arsenal, Liverpool, and Villa all looking the part just now

City, meanwhile, have already dropped 17 points, more than they did in the entire 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons. But there is no reason to panic. Guardiola's charges have a strong recent history of coming from behind in the title race and are only five points behind Arsenal having overhauled an eight-point deficit to the Gunners in the second half of last term.

That City have dropped more points than usual is perhaps to be expected given the exhausting treble campaign and the high