Pep Guardiola watched with frustration as his Manchester City side suffered another defeat, this time 2-1 at Aston Villa last weekend. The four-time reigning Premier League champions are struggling, having won just one of their last 12 matches across all competitions.
City fell behind early to Jhon Durán’s goal after a shaky start, and despite creating a few chances, they never seemed secure at the back. Villa looked dangerous on the counter, with Morgan Rogers adding a second goal to seal the win in the second half.
With a month to regroup, City will face Paris Saint-Germain on January 22nd in Matchday 7 of the UEFA Champions League’s group stage.
PSG could add to Manchester City’s woes this season
Manchester City are just inside the top 24 spots to advance to the next stage of the Champions League, but the Premier League side are 22nd with eight points, so a loss to PSG could see them drop out.
A few weeks away from the matchup, CBS Sports’ Jonathan Johnson spoke on the latest PSG Talking podcast and stated that he sees the Ligue 1 side prevailing over the English club.
“I am going to say minimum four points from those two remaining Champions League games,” Johnson said. ” So I guess that means PSG book their place in the knockout phase. I don’t know if I’d go for a full six out of six. It wouldn’t completely surprise me if they get the three against City and then finish it off with another three against Stuttgart.
“But I do feel like the four points they need to get to 11 points—which would, logically, be the cutoff for the knockout phase—I do think, ultimately, they will do it. Maybe the surprise element is that with PSG potentially beating City, maybe City even drop out of all contention for the Champions League. So maybe PSG become the giant killers, given the way they started this edition. But I think that would be my one shout for the moment.”
