Why Manchester City should still be feared in the title race

So much for the League Cup springboard.

Manchester City had a sense of deja vu against Liverpool on Wednesday night, but it wasn't a repeat of the euphoria they enjoyed at Wembley just three days earlier. Instead, it was the sobering sting of humiliation following another Premier League demolition job as Jurgen Klopp's Reds conjured up a high energy, attacking display similar to the one that saw them run riot at the Etihad back in November.

It was bitter-sweet revenge for the Merseysiders following their Capital One Cup final heartache, but this 3-0 thrashing was much more significant for how damaging it could be for City, whose hopes of making up the ground to claim their third Premier League crown are in danger of disintegrating.

Three top-flight defeats on the spin has left them with it all to do to give boss Manuel Pellegrini the send off they were hoping for, and an eighth league defeat overall means history is well and truly against them finishing 2015-16 as champions. In an average season it would almost certainly be curtains. But whether this body blow proves crucial or merely serves as another setback in one of the most unpredictable Premier League campaigns ever, remains to be seen.

Pellegrini must have thought he had navigated his team through the mini crisis that followed the news he would be replaced by Pep Guardiola at the end of the season, with the Champions League victory in Kiev and Wembley glory providing a real platform to go on and conclude his tenure in style. Instead, more obituaries will be written, with many observers adamant this ageing City side will not have one final hurrah before they undergo the major summer revamp reportedly being planned by the current Bayern Munich coach.

Tottenham and Arsenal also lost in midweek while Leicester were held at home, but even Pellegrini has admitted City are running out of games to produce the familiar surge that saw them fly through the chasing pack to clinch the title on the final day on both of their previous Premier League triumphs - in 2011-12 and 2013-14.

It isn't an impossible task but the way they collapsed after falling behind to Adam Lallana's speculative drive from distance perhaps shows just why they have looked to bring in one of Europe's 'super' coaches. Too often City have this type of lapse and it has stopped them from going onto truly dominate the English top flight, failing to retain any of their previous titles. That is where Guardiola comes in. Sustained domestic dominance is high on the agenda, as is making an annual impact in the latter stages of the Champions League. The Spaniard is seen as the final, significant step towards the vision City's owners had when they first took over the club back in 2008.

That said, the emphatic nature of this loss was somewhat unexpected. City had arrived at Anfield on the crest of a wave, but left lamenting a costly League Cup final hangover. Getting their hands on the first silverware of the season was supposed to have given the Citizens the impetus to send out a message to the rest of the league; what better way to follow that up by winning on a ground where they had triumphed just once in their previous 24 league visits?

The fact they now have their inspirational captain Vincent Kompany back to regularly marshal the defence after an injury-ravaged campaign was being identified as a potential game-changer in the pursuit of top spot. The Belgian's influence would surely make them harder to beat. However, that theory appeared to take a knock as Kompany and co wilted under the glare of the floodlights at Anfield. City fans will have feared the worst as their team suffered an all too familiar fate on their latest trip to L4, but results elsewhere means they can breathe again and still count themselves amongst the contenders - and in truth, that is surely the minimum requirement.

The Citizens finished as runners-up to Chelsea last season and offered a statement of their intent with a £140m summer outlay which included the acquisition of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling. It was the flexing of such overwhelming financial muscles that it should have been an inevitability to see Pellegrini's men riding high at the top of the league come the run-in, especially given Chelsea's travails.

It's an understatement to suggest it has not gone quite to plan for the men from the Etihad in the intervening months, but somehow they are still in the hunt, and they could yet prove their doubters wrong with 11 matches to play, despite being 10 points behind leaders Leicester (albeit with a game in hand).

In 2012 they were eight points behind neighbours United with just six games left. It led ex-boss Roberto Mancini to publicly lament that the "title race is over". However, five straight wins, including a crucial 1-0 success over the Red Devils, set the platform for Sergio Aguero's last-gasp winner on the final day of the season to secure their first Premier League crown in the most extraordinary way.

Two years later, City were fourth in the table on the day they lifted the League Cup at Wembley before taking 29 points from the 36 available to finish top of the pile. Their only defeat in that final 12-match sequence came at Liverpool. Sound familiar?

City's players will have been angry with the manner of their loss at Anfield, but as they slumped into the away dressing room at the final whistle they will have found some slight solace in the fact their rivals had also stumbled. This was their get out of jail free card. They won't get another one, but they can now look forward to a run of fixtures that could see them crank up belated heat on the teams above them. With Arsenal floundering and set to meet Tottenham in a crunch battle at the weekend, City have another opportunity to build momentum.

A home match with rock-bottom Aston Villa is followed by a trip to relegation battlers Norwich. The Citizens will then look to finish off Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League before hosting United in the Manchester derby. If they don't step up to the mark in these aforementioned encounters then their dreams will truly be dashed.

On paper, City's run-in looks more difficult than their rivals', but it wouldn't be without precedent for them to hit peak form in the final furlong when all had appeared lost. If their key men are performing at full throttle, a tricky trip to resurgent Chelsea and a home clash with Arsenal on the penultimate weekend of the league season offer them an opportunity for redemption on the big stage.

For all the talk of Leicester's inexplicable rise and Tottenham's dream of ending a 55-year wait to be England's top dog, the billionaires from Manchester City remain within striking distance.

After such a humbling defeat, City fans won't be shouting about it anytime soon, but this season's rollercoaster Premier League title race, so lauded for the Foxes's fairytale push, could be in for a few more twists and turns. And who's to say that such an unpredictable, bewitching campaign won't come full circle, and end up finishing in all too predictable fashion?

Pellegrini and City will certainly hope so, and they've done it before.