Over the last 10 days the Citizens have put another trophy in the cabinet and also gone a long way to booking their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Ordinarily it should be a time for optimism and excitement, yet City’s woeful form in the Premier League has dampened the mood.
Wednesday night’s 3-0 loss away at Liverpool – a side that City defeated on penalties to lift the League Cup three days earlier – compounded the misery. It was a third league defeat in a row and not since 2007 have the side from East Manchester been on such a run.
Asked why his side were suffering, outgoing manager Manuel Pellegrini blamed a busy schedule: “From the beginning [against Liverpool] I saw our team was not fresh. We had not recovered from the last week with the Champions League game with the travel from Ukraine and the game on Sunday.”
In terms of winning the title, it is now a big ask for Pellegrini’s men. They head into the weekend in fourth position and 10 points adrift of leaders Leicester City.
Even with a game in hand to fall back on, it would take somebody with a bottomless pit of money to bet on City clinching a third league trophy since 2012.