Man City dream XI after the January window includes £51m failed Liverpool transfer

Manchester City won't panic about their current predicament. After all, they have been here before several times and recovered to win the Premier League title.

Under Pep Guardiola, City have won six out of the last seven Premier League titles and have chased down deficits amid fierce competition over the years from Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool and Mikel Arteta's Arsenal.

They now find themselves five points adrift of Liverpool at the top of the table but there is perhaps a different feel this season to previous title-winning campaigns.

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City lost four successive games in all competitions prior to the November international break and they have also lost influential midfielder Rodri - who was crowned the Ballon d'Or winner earlier this year - to a season-ending knee injury.

As such, there is talk that City will break their usual habit of not dipping into the January transfer market for a first team signing, by possibly signing a midfielder to replace the Spanish international.

Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi, who turned down a move to Liverpool in the summer after they activated his £51million release clause, has emerged as a possible January transfer target.

Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso has previously described the Spanish international as a midfielder 'all coaches would want' and while City have also been linked with Atalanta star, Ederson, Zubimendi would be the most like-for-like replacement for Rodri in the midfield.

Assuming he is the only major signing City make in the January window, when all of City's injured players make their return to the side, their dream XI could look a little something like this.

Ederson would be in goal and he would be protected by a back four of Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji and Josko Gvardiol. Zubimendi would slot into the midfield alongside Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva.

A choice of two of Phil Foden, Savinho, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku would flank Erling Haaland up front, who City could well look to sign an alternative for in the winter, given he is their only current centre-forward option.

City's dream XI after the January transfer window: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol; Zubimendi, De Bruyne, Silva; Foden, Grealish; Haaland