City Watch: Blues slip up again in race for top four

Manchester City faced Brighton on Saturday following a disappointing result the previous weekend against Nottingham Forest, slimming the team’s top four chances even more. 

A win against The Seagulls was vital in the fight for the Champions League places, especially as the standard of the usual ‘mid table teams,’ the likes of Bournemouth, Forest, Newcastle and even Brighton has been raised significantly.

Pep has recently said himself that every game until the end of the season is effectively a final, and each point may be crucial. 

City travelled to the south coast in November and suffered a 2-1 loss, bang in the middle of our shocking run of form. 

A repeat surely wasn’t on the cards, but with how unpredictable The Blues have been this season, nothing would be a surprise.

However, City dominated large parts of the game on the weekend, with Jeremy Doku causing the Brighton defence so many problems off the left wing.

It was no surprise then that Erling Haaland put the blues 1-0 up from the penalty spot. 

Brighton managed to equalise completely against the run of play before the break, with the game 1-1 at half time.

Omar Marmoush stepped up in the second half to score a long range effort, before the Seagulls levelled the game again, ending the game at 2-2 and another dent in City’s Champions League hopes.

The only piece of comfort I can take from the past week in that fifth place in the Premier League has now been confirmed as a Champions League spot for next season, based on the accumulated points in UEFAs European rankings. 

This provides the opportunity for City to finish outside the top four, but still play in Europe’s elite.

With no Champions League and therefore no midweek games to contend with now, there should be no real excuse as to why the team can’t achieve Champions League qualification.

We head into the international break now in fifth place, one point behind Chelsea and one point ahead of Newcastle, who have a game in hand over us. 

There are just five points separating 4th and 10th in the table, meaning competition for places is going to be very high come the pivotal games at the end of the season.

After returning from international duty, the players travel down to Bournemouth for their quarter final in the FA Cup, with the winner securing a spot at Wembley - The FA Cup is City’s only chance at silverware this season.