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14th September 2019
10:11pm BST
When Teemu Pukki scored Norwich City's third goal at Carrow Road on Saturday night, it underlined that Manchester City were having one of those days. But was it something more than that?
City are already five points behind Liverpool as this season shapes up to be more of the same from last season with the two clubs battling out in a rivalry which may be the defining one of the age.
City stumbled at times last season, losing at home to Crystal Palace and away at Leicester and Newcastle and still went on to claim the title with 98 points.
So only a fool would write them off, especially when a victory by another team in the same division is received with the shock and wonder that Norwich's victory was. City have all the advantages but maybe something has shifted?
City's title last season was met with shrugs and then a questioning of the way in which the soft power of their owners has been used by the football club. If the City project was designed to win friends and influence people then it didn't seem to be working.
They are, according to Dion Fanning on The Football Spin, 'unloved'. While highly paid footballers aren't as needy as, say, Boris Johnson, could this lack of affection derail City, especially when placed alongside their other problems?
Nicolas Otamendi may be the most obvious of these and with Aymeric Laporte out for a few months he appears to be a problem City are stuck with a little bit longer.
On The Football Spin, Dion Fanning suggests that these problems could be decisive in the title race, especially as Liverpool have Roberto Firmino back to his best and showing the other strikers at the club how to be selfless.
Are all these factors pointing towards a City decline and a Liverpool title? Is Dion Fanning the fool for writing them off?
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