The 2024/25 season could still be memorable for Manchester City

Plenty of people were quick to write off Manchester City after a poor run of results, but they could yet end up with egg on their faces. Operators of online football betting platforms have been particularly culpable, ranking Manchester City as virtual no-hopers in their bid to retain the Premier League title.

In fairness, bridging a 12-point gap to table-topping Liverpool with 18 games remaining is probably asking a little too much for the reigning champions. However, they are undoubtedly capable of piecing together a long winning run and Liverpool have previous form for capitulating, so it is too early to start handing out the silverware.

Regardless of what happens in the Premier League, Pep Guardiola’s side still have plenty to play for between now and the end of the season. An impressive 8-0 home victory over Salford City was the perfect way for Manchester City to kick off their FA Cup campaign, and they have been handed a favourable fourth-round draw.

Playmaker Jack Grealish was a standout performer against Salford and Guardiola believes he and his teammates will garner confidence from the cup victory.

“He made a good assist as well, not just the goal.” Guardiola told the BBC. “He scored a goal, made an assist. Jack’s a special player, not always one to score a lot of goals but it depends on him. If he can perform well, he’ll take the opportunity to keep going and going. All the players depend on the performance in training sessions and when they have minutes to play. It’s simple, not just for Jack, for all of them.

“I’ve been manager here for more than 500 games and we’ve made an incredible 487 or 488 games. Then we had 11, 12 or 13 bad games.

“The problem that we’ve had is that we’ve had an incredible number of injuries, so we could not train, and we could not compete. It’s so difficult but step by step, people are coming back.

“This season or maybe next season, new players come in and you have to fight for your position. When someone pushes you, you have competition and you give your best.”

Guardiola’s comments will hopefully fire a warning shot at critics who have been quick to jump on the ‘City-bashing bandwagon’ over the past few weeks. While winning a fifth league title in a row may ultimately prove to be beyond them, City could easily end the season with two major trophies.

Manchester City have reached the FA Cup final in each of the last two seasons, and it would be foolish to back against them making it three in a row this term.

Claiming a second Champions League title in three seasons is also an achievable target, despite the team’s inconsistent form in the early part of the competition. Four points from their final two league phase games against Paris Saint-Germain (A) and Club Brugge (H) should be enough for City to secure a place in the knockout play-off round.

While they could be paired with one of Europe’s big hitters at that stage of the tournament, Pep Guardiola’s side have the talent to secure a place in the last-16. If Manchester City book a spot in the round of 16, online bookmakers would suddenly have to start taking them a little more seriously in UEFA’s elite club competition.

Securing a top-four finish and winning two trophies would represent an excellent season for City and would be the perfect response to the people who wrote them off.