Ilkay Gundogan offers fresh Man City title verdict ahead of Liverpool as Arsenal mission clear

Ilkay Gundogan has admitted Manchester City's Premier League title hopes could be over if they lose to Liverpool at the weekend.

Pep Guardiola's side travel to Merseyside on Sunday having squandered a 3-0 lead inside the final 15 minutes to draw 3-3 with Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday. It means City are without a win in six games in all competitions, with the champions currently second in the league on 23 points.

Liverpool, meanwhile, are the current leaders on 31 points while Arsenal are fourth with 22 points, one point behind City and nine points behind Arne Slot's Reds. Speaking after the 3-3 draw with Feyenoord, Gundogan said: “To stay in the title race, probably yes, (it’s a game City can’t afford to lose), because 11 points would be a huge gap.

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“Anfield is always tough, no matter the situation. We’ve struggled in recent years going there and we know Liverpool are a great team full of confidence right now.

“It’s going to be as tough as it is possible to be, but that sums up the situation right now. It seems we have to go through this season the toughest way possible.

“Obviously we’ve done this ourselves a little bit, but hopefully we can get out of that as quickly as possible, especially in such a big game. It would give ourselves a boost to perform well and then obviously to get something out of the game.”

City had looked like picking themselves up after Saturday’s 4-0 thrashing by Tottenham condemned them to their worst run of results since 2006. A double from Erling Haaland – the first from the penalty spot – either side of a deflected Gundogan effort put City on course for what seemed a comfortable win.

Yet two errors from Josko Gvardiol late in the game allowed Feyenoord to respond with goals from Anis Hadj Moussa and Santiago Gimenez before an Ederson blunder led to a last-gasp David Hancko equaliser. Gundogan, the 2023 treble-winning captain who rejoined the club last summer after a short spell at Barcelona, admitted the nature of the draw made it feel like a defeat.

The 34-year-old German said: “Right now it is tougher. It feels like a loss. If we lose 2-0 at home obviously we would be disappointed, but the way we did it here, ‘urgh’, it could have only been worse if we’d conceded a fourth goal and lost the game.

“The sensation right now is big disappointment, but football is football and football sometimes creates incredible moments and difficult moments that you have to face.”