Former Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips has acknowledged that "every era comes to an end" for teams, but he believes that Pep Guardiola will find a way to get his side back to the top of English football.
After winning an unprecedented fourth consecutive top-flight title last season, Man City have since suffered an alarming decline that nobody would have predicted, particularly in the Premier League, with injuries and a notable drop-off in form from several star players within an aging squad contributing to their downfall.
The Citizens suffered their seventh league defeat of the season last weekend - already four more than the whole of the previous campaign - when they were put to the sword 5-1 by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
City have subsequently slipped to fifth in the Premier League table, a whopping 15 points behind leaders and title favourites Liverpool, and two points behind Chelsea in fourth spot.
Indeed, securing a top-four finish and Champions League football for next season is Man City's priority for the second half of this campaign, and although their performance at Arsenal left little to be desired, City legend Wright-Phillips has seen enough to suggest that Guardiola can turn their fortunes around.
Can Guardiola turn things around at Man City this season?
"Yeah I do (think Guardiola can turn things around). I think even when I was at that game, and for me, it was a weird game on the weekend. It didn't look, watching it, like a 5-1 game," Wright-Phillips told Sports Mole.
"I just think Arsenal's tactics were right in terms of just waiting to try and catch it on a break or waiting for them to make an error, but I would say that's most probably the most efficient Arsenal have been in front of goal this whole season.
"I think they had six or seven shots and five of them went in. That very rarely happens, so they have to pick themselves up, and I think other than that, I wouldn't necessarily say they played badly. They just made errors and got punished for them."
Man City have been the dominant force in English football for some time, winning six of the last seven Premier League title prior to the current campaign, but some may now suggest that the Citizens' will face sterner competition for top-flight glory in years to come, with Guardiola having already begun to rebuild his squad.
In a bid to resurrect City's season, Guardiola has strengthened his side with the additions of Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonzalez in the winter window, and more incomings and high-profile outgoings are expected in the summer.
Wright-Phillips 'does not think there's much to worry about' at present and is hopeful that Guardiola can steer Man City back to the top of English football in the near future, but whether they can dominate in the same fashion as in recent years remains to be seen.
Wright-Phillips: "I don't think there's much to worry about"
"I wouldn't say they would necessarily dominate because there's some fantastic teams within the Premier League," said the 43-year-old. "Even the teams you would have expected that would have been fighting off relegation are now fighting for Champions League places.
"The margins between the top and the bottom have closed, but I think the one thing that a lot of the top teams have over them is the consistency part of doing it back to back to back to back to back.
"I don't think there's necessarily a problem with him getting City back to where they were. I think this was the first summer that they never bought anybody without expecting to have this many injuries that they've had through the season.
"In many ways, I think what's happened in January wasn't meant to happen until the summer, but because of the injuries, it got pushed forward because obviously they want those Champions League places, and so I think they're going in the right direction.
"Every era comes to an end. It's whether you can do in many ways what [Jurgen] Klopp did, where the young players are already there to come through, and until this point, City have always done it over the years and years.
"I don't think there's much to worry about. I think they just keep plugging away and doing what they do best."
Shaun Wright-Phillips was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of Heart Bingo. body check tags ::
