Daniel Sturridge explains what Man City need to do in January to have a chance of winning the Premier League title after falling 11 points behind rivals Liverpool

Daniel Sturridge believes that Manchester City can only win the Premier League this season if Pep Guardiola is allowed to add to his squad in January.

City have been the champions of England in each of the past four seasons but a 2-0 defeat at Liverpool on Sunday left Guardiola’s men 11 points behind their opponents after 13 rounds of fixtures this term.

The result was not a shock as it was City’s sixth defeat in seven games across all competitions.

City had started the Premier League season with four straight wins before being held to a 2-2 draw by Arsenal in September.

Ballon d’Or winner Rodri suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in that draw and it is expected to keep him out until almost the end of the campaign.

Rodri was initially replaced by Mateo Kovacic, but he has since also joined the injury list.

Man City manager Pep Guardiola has nowoverseen six defeats in his last seven matches

Daniel Sturridge believes that City cannot win the league without signing a new midfielder

Sturridge is therefore adamant that City must buy a new defensive midfielder to have any chance of challenging Liverpool for the title.

Speaking on Sky Sports after Sunday’s game at Anfield, former City forward Sturridge – who also previously played for Liverpool – said: ‘I think they do need a defensive midfielder, a defensive-minded midfielder.

‘When you look at who they have now, you’ve got [Matheus] Nunes, you’ve got Kovacic, you’ve got [Ilkay] Gundogan, the list goes on. The majority of those players are attacking minded or control players.

‘They certainly won’t be in the title race, in my opinion, if they don’t sign a defensive midfielder, because you can see it in chances [they have been conceding] against teams that wouldn’t typically get chances.’

Despite ruling City out of the title race barring mid-season reinforcements, Sturridge expects them to finish in the top four.

He added: ‘I think they’ll be in the Champions League, because I think the best players they have will perform.

‘They’re not right now. They’re not. [Erling] Haaland is not taking chances. Players aren’t, you know, performing to their level.

‘But they’ll come a point when it will turn and Haaland will be flying in, or maybe bang off 10 goals in a row, and then we’re like, “oh, they’re back again.”

City have missed Ballon d’Or winner Rodri (centre) since he injured his ACL in September

Liverpool were too good for City on Sunday and are now well clear of them in the league table

Ex- Liverpool captain Jamie Carragher was part of the Sky Sports team for Sunday’s game

‘So you can’t rule them out completely and say, “no Champions League”. I think they get in the Champions League. But to challenge for the title, I think they need a defensive midfielder to do that.’

Former Liverpool captain Jamie Carragher agreed with Sturridge about City needing a new defensive midfielder.

But Carragher suggested that City are already now out of the title race and that they will struggle to finish above Chelsea and Arsenal, let alone leaders Liverpool. 

‘No matter how good a manager you are, you can’t fix that,’ Carragher said ‘I don’t think Pep can fix that in terms of midfield [without making a least one new signing].

‘This has been going on for four or five games. He needs to buy players in there. If he can do it in January, who knows?

‘He may need to wait until the end of the season to fix this, because right now, I could see Man City maybe losing another four or five games between now and the end of the season.

‘I look at the energy Arsenal have got, the energy the young players at Chelsea have got, I think it might be difficult for City to finish above either.’