Ilkay Gundogan admits Man City will be fighting for their lives in Premier League title race in huge showdown with Liverpool

City have been in roundly terrible form in recent weeks and have failed to win any of their last six games. They have lost their last three league matches, going down 2-1 to Bournemouth, 2-1 to Brighton, and, astonishingly, 4-0 to Tottenham at home. Despite those results, City remain second in the Premier League table, but they are eight points behind the Reds ahead of this weekend's clash between the two clubs at Anfield.

City also threw away a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 with Feyenoord in midweek, a new low in Pep Guardiola's worst-ever run as a manager. Now, Gundogan has made it clear to his team-mates that they must beat Arne Slot's side this weekend to have any hope of winning a fourth successive Premier League title. City have not won at Anfield since 2021, when they ran out 4-1 victors, with Gundogan scoring twice.

Speaking to The Times, the midfielder said: “To stay in the title race probably yes [it is a must-win game], because 11 points would be a huge gap.

“It’s still early in the season. There are still a lot of games to play and a lot of things can happen, not just on our side but at every other team. But obviously we have to look at ourselves and try to do the things we can do better, as quickly as possible. We take it, stay humble, head down and try to put in the work in the next few days and prepare as good as possible for a tough game.”

He added: “I don’t know what’s going wrong. It is a bit inexplicable. Sometimes you will struggle in some games, no matter who the opponent is. Even when you play at home against a side you should dominate, you will concede chances, because every team is good enough right now to create something.

“But then 75 minutes in, 3-0 up and controlling the game, we gave it away so easily. They also were ruthless. It is probably more us to blame but they just punished us in every situation they got, scoring three goals. Obviously it is very tough to take.”

City's clash with Liverpool this weekend is perhaps the biggest game of the season so far. After that encounter, Guardiola's side play Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.