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Manchester City

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Manchester City do not usually drop points at all, let alone lose two Premier League matches in a row. In fact, you have to go back all the way to December 2018 to find evidence of Pep Guardiola's side falling to successive league defeats. So there is understandably some gloom around City after Sunday's <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/man-city-player-ratings-vs-arsenal-erling-haaland-josko-gvardiol/blt45c8f26df432f118" target="_blank">1-0 defeat to Arsenal</a>. Losing to a title rival hurts, especially to an 86th-minute goal, and a deflected one at that.City no longer feel completely invincible and that in itself feels strange after storming to the treble last season and winning their first six games of this campaign, hurdling numerous obstacles to do so. So is the City empire about to crumble? Not so fast.Recent history shows that Guardiola always has a plan and there is no need to panic just yet. City are not a perfect team and never have been, but no club in Europe bounces back quite like they do. There are plenty of reasons to believe that they will come out of this slide in form stronger than ever and end up retaining their Premier League crown after all...<script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_5704afb8-c10b-4ba5-9cb4-d7fb6098ef90"}}</script>

Man City's saviours: Impending returns of Rodri, John Stones and Kevin De Bruyne mean defending champions are still Premier League favourites

Premier League

Tottenham

We all knew how important Rodri is to City, but we didn't realise just quite how much the team's fortunes hinged upon the Spaniard. <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/madness-from-rodri-man-city-midfielder-miss-arsenal-game-sent-off-for-grabbing-morgan-gibbs-white/blt2fe562e41ad0598d" target="_blank">Of the three matches he was due to miss after getting sent off against Nottingham Forest, the trip to the Emirates looked like being the biggest concern</a>, but City have actually ended up losing all three games that their midfield lynchpin has been suspended for.The difference between when Rodri plays and when he does not is stark. He has missed 16 league games since joining the club in the summer of 2019, and City have lost six of them while drawing once and winning nine times. They have a win rate of just 56 percent when Rodri is absent, compared to a 74% win rate when he is playing."Rodri is an important player, but he is not there for the reason everyone knows and we have to move forward," Guardiola said on Sunday. The good news is that his suspension has already come to an end and City will be able to move forward after the international break with perhaps their most important player.His return comes just at the right time, too, as City come up against Brighton, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham within their next six league games. The other good thing for City is that, as long as he can avoid getting into scraps like his battle with Morgan Gibbs-White, Rodri is unlikely to miss many more games. The Spaniard has an excellent injury record and has never been absent for more than two weeks in his five seasons with the club.

Rodri's return

Rodri's absence and Kevin De Bruyne's torn hamstring have taken up most of the focus as far as City's personnel problems have been concerned this season, so much so that John Stones' long absence since the Community Shield has gained little attention.But it should not be forgotten how influential Stones was last season, playing almost every game in the run to the treble after reinventing himself as one-part defender, one-part midfielder. The 'Barnsley Beckenbauer' is a cult hero for City fans and they greeted him as such when he came off the bench against Arsenal to make his long-awaited return.He slotted into a deep midfield role and immediately picked up where he had left off in the Champions League final, dictating City's play. Even though Gabriel Martinelli's winning strike happened when he was on the pitch, Stones gave City more control in possession than they had under the erratic Mateo Kovacic.Had he been available for more than just 20 minutes during Rodri's suspension, it is not difficult to imagine that City's recent run of games would not have gone as badly. Now he is back, he can help City get a grip and find they way back to the path towards a fourth consecutive league crown.

'The Barnsley Beckenbauer' is back

City have also been without their talisman of the last eight years due to De Bruyne tearing his hamstring on the opening day of the season against Burnley, just two months after he was forced off in the Champions League final with the same injury.The Belgian has undergone surgery to treat the problem, so his chances of another breakdown are minimal, and Guardiola revealed that his recovery is ahead of schedule. That means that De Bruyne could return before the new year, perhaps even at some point in November.When it happens, De Bruyne's return will be an almighty shot in the arm for Guardiola's side for a whole host of reasons. To start with, he has scored 96 goals and contributed 156 assists in his 356 appearances for City. Last season alone, he laid on 30 goals.City have lacked a bit of creativity in De Bruyne's absence, and against Arsenal they had their lowest amount of shots in a Premier League game for 13 years. But the person who will benefit the most from De Bruyne coming back is Erling Haaland, who has been seriously blunted without his most reliable supplier.De Bruyne set up 13 of Haaland's 52 goals last season, and the Norwegian has looked lost recently. He has failed to score in his last three matches, while in his last two Premier League outings he has had a grand total of one shot. Against Arsenal, he had an expected goals count of 0.0.

De Bruyne's return isn't far away

The last time City lost back-to-back league games was in December 2018, when they were stunned at home by Crystal Palace and then beaten by Leicester. And rather like now, there was an overarching factor to those twin defeats: the absence of their best holding midfielder.City were without Fernandinho for both those losses, and once he returned they looked back to their old selves and went on a barnstorming run, winning 18 of their next 19 matches, including all 14 in the run-in to pip Liverpool to the title.Now that Rodri is back and De Bruyne and Stones are also returning, don't bet against them going on a similar run this season and pulling away from early leaders Tottenham and Arsenal.

City have been here before - and roared right back

With the exception of Guardiola's first title-winning season in 2017-18, City have always taken a while to truly find their groove. That was what made their flying start to this campaign all the more surprising as they won their opening six league games for the first time since Guardiola's debut season.Now they have reverted to type and hit a snag. But history tells us that City truly come into their own at the business end of the season, and it is often not until around Christmas that they hit their peak. In the aforementioned 2018-19 season, they won 14 games in a row between February and May, and two years later they went one better, totting up 15 consecutive victories between December and March to reel in Manchester United.In the 2021-22 season, they went on a 12-game winning streak between November and January, and last term they overcame a frustrating draw at Nottingham Forest by going on to win their next 12 fixtures and chase down Arsenal. When push comes to shove, City normally deliver."I think our team gets fed by these moments and I think that’s a very good characteristic to have in our space of work," Ruben Dias explained last April. “Every year is different. Obviously also we have different players, but one thing is for sure, at least in the last two years I’ve been here, when we arrive at this stage, we’re ready. I guess all of us have a special feeling and taste when it comes to this stage."

City usually peak after Christmas

So while the defeat to Arsenal is good for title-race neutrals and was cheered by those who want to see a different team lifting the trophy in May, there is every chance that City will still go on to defy history and become the first team in English football to ever win four consecutive top-flight crowns.City might have slowed down, but this is a marathon, not a sprint. And in Guardiola's seven seasons as manager, they have ended up reaching the finishing line first on five occasions. There is a reason for that. The coach's constant quest for perfection means that he will already be thinking of ways to ensure City immediately return to form.They might have a gruelling schedule coming up, but that will only motivate them more.

Five titles out of seven

Man City's saviours: Impending returns of Rodri, John Stones and Kevin De Bruyne mean defending champions are still Premier League favourites | Goal.com UK

Manchester City might be in a spin after losing back-to-back Premier League games, but the cavalry is coming and there is no need to panic