Manchester United's impressive run of wins propelled them to the top of the league, making them the talk of the town in recent weeks. Barely anyone noticed the sweeping run of consecutive victories by Pep Guardiola's Manchester City who are hot on their heels and could even leapfrog them on top of the table if they win their game in hand. This fairly describes the contrasting perceptions of the two Manchester clubs this season. Even after Manchester City started the season poorly by languishing in the bottom half of the table, they were still considered the main threat to Liverpool's hopes of retaining the Premier League title, and have lived up to the billing by racking up 10 consecutive victories in all competitions with no Sergio Aguero for the majority part and literally a makeshift forward line. Even if Man United are currently on top of the league, they still appear like a disaster waiting to happen, and it would not be a surprise to see them drop into top four contenders once again instead of serious Premier League challengers if they start to stumble like they have always done. Manchester City have found a way to improvise their lack of free scoring game by relying on their rock solid defense led by Reuben Dias who has been a sensation since joining for a record 63 m pound fee from Benfica. John Stones meanwhile has risen from the ashes and dethroned defensive lynch pin Aymeric Laporte from the starting line up. He is now fully living up to what Pep Guardiola envisioned him to be when he forked out over 55 m pounds to sign him from Everton. The duo have formed a rock solid wall that has made the citizens a tough team to crack and at the same time they have contributed crucial goals in set pieces at the top end of the pitch. Manchester City beat Manchester United in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup through set piece superiority and their 4 goals against Crystal Palace came directly or indirectly from set plays, so teams will have to be careful of their new-found threat. If they win their game in hand and leapfrog Man United at the summit, they will have a huge chance of winning the league as they have historically proven to withstand the pressure of staying at the top of the league owing to previous runs of 2011/2012 season, 2013/2014 and the recent 2018/2019 season where they heed off pressure from Man United and Liverpool twice respectively to win hotly contested Premier League titles. Despite Kevin De Bruyne having recently picked up an injury that will rule him for the next few weeks, Sergio Aguero is coming back within no time and their midfielders especially Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan are back to their best just at the right time. Adding this to their defensive solidity and a favorable run of fixtures before De Bruyne is back, they can grind out positive results even if it's not in a free scoring manner like in previous seasons. The likes of Man United will have to keep winning to stand a chance and Liverpool will have to bounce back from their worrying run of form quickly before Manchester City disappear with the title into the horizon!
