Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher says he still expects Manchester City to seal Champions League qualification despite the difficulties they have faced this season.
Although Carragher doesn’t necessarily believe that Pep Guardiola‘s side are in great shape, he feels that those around them in the table are not performing well themselves:
“I think they will, just, just. A lot of teams around them now are just getting into bad form. Aston Villa played Liverpool (Wednesday night) and it’s probably a good result for them in a lot of ways, but they’ve dropped two points in their last two home games.”
“Newcastle have lost three of their last four, Chelsea are really struggling. City have put a bit of a run together of late.”
City’s form since Christmas has been good
While Guardiola’s men have not been putting in the sort of performances we normally expect from them, their league performances in recent months have been pretty consistent.
From Boxing Day onwards, the Cityzens have picked up 17 points from a possible 24. Only Liverpool and Arsenal have been in better form over the same period.
The Premier League fixture list
Although City do have to face the Premier League leaders at the Etihad this weekend, their schedule between now and the end of the season isn’t that bad.
They do face trips to Tottenham and Nottingham Forest in their next two away fixtures but their games after that are all ‘winnable’.
Brighton (h), Leicester (h), Manchester United (a), Crystal Palace (h), Everton (a), Aston Villa (h), Wolves (h), Southampton (a), Bournemouth (h) and Fulham (a) is a pretty kind list of matches.
If City can’t rack up enough points to finish in the top 4/5 from here on out, questions will have to be asked.
Read our exclusive interview with Shaun Wright-Phillips. He talks about why City should still make the top 4 this season.
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