Manchester City have dropped points in each of their last three Premier League games – what problems does Pep Guardiola need to fix? | Football news

“Of course, when we’re not winning games, we can’t think about these things,” Pep Guardiola replied when asked about Manchester City’s position in the Premier League title race after the draw with Brighton. “Unfortunately we couldn’t score and scoring goals is part of your job.

2026 hasn’t been kind to Pep so far, he’s still looking for his first win. City have now dropped points in each of their last three outings, and nine from winning positions in total. After a period of such promise, their title bid faltered.

Out of the running, if there is indeed a five-point deficit (which could increase to eight when Arsenal host Liverpool, live Ski Sports, on Thursday) means the chase is beyond City, leaving the Gunners without an obvious challenger and a free run for Premier League glory.

So what are the biggest questions in the game – and what to look out for ahead of the season-defining rest of January?

Defensive deficiencies

Guardiola has found a consistent formula at the back this season, naming the same back four to start in 12 of 21 games. Of those 12, 10 have ended in victory – the only loss being a 2-1 loss to Newcastle.

With Josko Guardiola and Ruben Diaz at the heart of things, City had two athletic centre-backs who can play and balance the left and right sides perfectly. Along with Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes, they had the perfect blend of energy, dynamism and stability.

But the force has since been decimated by injuries. And now that combination is unavailable, it leaves Guardiola with a big hole that he doesn’t have the personnel to fill. The recall of Max Alleyne from his successful loan spell at Watford was smart and he acquitted himself superbly on his Premier League debut in the draw at Brighton – Abdukodir Khusanov was equally impressive.

Pep admired the young partnership: “They played exceptionally,” he said. “Khusanov is amazing, he helped us with long balls in behind. He can control the whole width, he is so quick.” Khusanov won every duel he led, while Allejn’s education through the City Academy was clear in his composure on the ball.

But with Diaz unavailable until at least March, Guardiol unlikely to be seen again this season, John Stones still sidelined and Nathan Ayke unable to play more than one game a week, there is an obvious shortcoming. Defense wins you titles and City are sorely lacking in cover. Maybe it’s time to accelerate summer plans to sign a defender?

Missed big chances

Are the Premier League’s top goalscorers struggling to score? In fact, yes. The city has looked sluggish since the beginning of the year; a product of congested games and the inability to rotate with so many injured players. In this last three-game run, they scored just two with a kG value of 5.61 – and one was a penalty.

“I liked a lot of good things, but we don’t score goals,” said Pep. “So many clean chances, and it’s not just one player, two players, it’s all the people up front who have played a lot. City have missed more big chances defined by Opta (45) than any other team in the league this term, which of course has to be cautioned by the fact that they create proportionally more, not diminishing the essence of the problem.”

Missed chances are a hot topic; even more important when the chances received are on the rise. City created four big chances against Brighton and squandered three. Erling Haaland alone registered eight shots on goal, 50 percent of which hit the target, yet he was unable to score from open play.

We created a lot, chances in the penalty area, and we couldn’t score,” Pep reiterated in a press conference. Sharing the load between his very many talented forwards to complement Haaland’s tremendous performance remains another obvious area of ​​improvement. Incoming Antoine Semenio can be a big part of the solution here.

Strong starts undone by weak finishes

Man City always start games in front. That’s the Pep mantra. No matter what combination of players they field in any formation, City will go for games from the first whistle and that tends to scare opponents into submission. That’s the reason they conceded only once in the first 20 minutes of the entire season.

But the background of the matches becomes a problem. To play Pep’s way, you need an incredible amount of energy because he wants the ball to be in danger all the time, high up the pitch, and then if possession changes, the recovery structure requires you to run hard and fast. Brighton repeatedly tried to punish City on the counter-attack on Wednesday, especially in the second half. Chelsea used the same tactic four days earlier.

When mistakes are made in the tires of the legs. Of the 19 goals City have scored this season, 68 percent have come in the second period and 32 percent in the final 20 minutes. City need to be better at seeing out games or establishing a big enough margin that late receptions don’t affect the outcome of games.

Problems from last season resurfacing?

Pep was asked at his press conference on Wednesday about the difficulty of this three-game run and the similarities to last season. There are parallels in the injury situation causing instability, but three consecutive draws hardly constitute a collapse, albeit less than ideal as Arsenal continue to win.

Pep’s response focused on the key differences: “It’s quite obvious. The energy and the way we play will create the chances we create, the expected goals (more).” There is no doubt that City are in a much better position than they were this time 12 months ago, playing a style of football that has shifted to a more vertical, that is, direct. However, that gives up the element of control and in games where City break through the hearts of teams which doesn’t really matter.

But in games with smaller margins where the creative output is lacking, it’s harder to justify being that much more open. Brighton was actually City’s best creative player on Wednesday, and of the nine points Guardiola’s side have dropped from attacking positions this season, five have come from the Seagulls.

It sounds simple, but for this latest evolution of City to be a viable challenger to Arsenal in the title race, more goals are needed to make up for what will inevitably be more conceded.

What next?

City have six more games in four different competitions in January alone, including the Manchester derby.

Unsurprisingly, this slump, which is just that, a post-Christmas slump, has coincided with four games in which Haaland has failed to find the net from open play. He’s the type of character who wants to shoulder the scoring load and City’s structure is designed in such a way that he can do that – but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t need help.

City have some of the world’s best creators, turning them into goals takes more work than Haaland is capable of doing on his own. His hitting rate (0.99 per 90) is already comfortably the best in the league. Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden and Ryan Cherky are among those whose performance now needs to be stepped up.