Unfamiliar City woes make this Guardiola's trickiest challenge

The champions struggling in the autumn is nothing new but the root of this season's problems appear different

- Jonathan Wilson

The danger is always of overreacting. We've seen Manchester City have a blip at this stage of the season before. But still, the defeat by Brighton on Saturday means that, for the first time in his career as a manager, Pep Guardiola has lost four successive games. It would be extremely premature to suggest the empire is crumbling but, equally, for the first time in a long time there is a sense that City's aura may be beginning to wane.

But first, some context. One defeat was in the Carabao Cup and another was in the Champions League, where City sit 10th in the table; even if they do miss out on the top eight who go through to the last 16 automatically, they have Feyenoord (home), Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain (away) and Club Brugge (home) next - they will surely at the very least be in the playoffs. But two of the defeats were in the Premier League, away at Bournemouth and then Brighton, and as a result City sit five points behind Liverpool.

It's not unusual for City to have a slight wobble at this stage of the season. Guardiola likes his teams to peak in March and April, when the critical games come around in Europe, which is why the characteristic pattern of City's title successes is of them putting the burners on in the spring and either overhauling a challenger or pulling away from the pack.