Manchester City loses again, falls to third behind Liverpool and Tottenham in Premier League title race

Manchester City’s hopes of repeating as Premier League Champions were dealt another savage blow on Wednesday in a 2-1 defeat at Leicester City.

In a wide-open Boxing Day contest at the King Power Stadium, Pep Guardiola’s team failed to respond to last weekend’s shocking 3-2 home loss to Crystal Palace and deservedly dropped all three points to the 2015-16 champs. Combined with Liverpool’s 4-0 win against Newcastle United, City now trails the table-topping Reds by six points. The two sides will meet in Manchester on Jan. 3.

As was the case last Saturday, City took an early lead, this time through Bernardo Silva. But Leicester quickly equalized, Marc Albrighton’s 19th minute strike stopping the visitors’ momentum cold. Both teams had plenty of chances to add a second, particularly during a back-and-forth end to the first half.

City enjoyed most of the possession. Yet Leicester was comfortable absorbing most of it, and managed just one fewer shot on target than the visitors seven. When Guardiola’s men did create an opportunity, home keeper Kasper Schmeichel was there to make the save.

The contest seemed destined to end in a stalemate entering the final 10 minutes. That would’ve been bad enough for the Sky Blues, who are desperately trying to keep pace with Liverpool. Then disaster struck. After being beaten by Andros Townsend’s all-world strike versus Palace, City conceded another long-range screamer from the boot of Portuguese winger Ricardo Pereira:

Not only was City unable to salvage a point by scoring a second goal before the final whistle, veteran defender Fabian Delph was shown a straight red card for kicking out at Pereira, all but ensuring that Delph will miss that high-stakes match against the Reds early next month.

It might not matter much, however. For while there is plenty of season left, Manchester City’s chances of winning back-to-back titles is looking less and less likely with each passing game. They now sit third in the 20-team circuit, having been leapfrogged by Tottenham Hotspur, who routed Bournemouth 5-0.