Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, has admitted they are in danger of missing out on next season’s Champions League.
The Premier League champions are currently seventh in the table after 17 fixtures, four points behind Nottingham Forest in fourth and a point off fifth-placed Bournemouth.
Guardiola’s men are in their 14th consecutive season in European football’s most prestigious club competition.
Only Arsenal between 1998 and 2017, and Manchester United between 1996 and 2014, have a longer record of qualifying among English clubs.
“The one team that has been in the Champions League for the past years has been Manchester City,” Guardiola said.
“Now we are at risk, of course we are. Definitely.”
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United finished in the Premier League’s top four from the 2005-06 season to 2008-09. At least three of them also occupied the top four spots for 15 successive campaigns until 2012.
But United have spent five out of the past 11 seasons outside the Champions League.
Arsenal spent six seasons out of the competition before returning last term. Liverpool missed out all but one year in seven from 2010, while Chelsea are in their second successive campaign outside Europe’s elite.
This term the threat to City comes from unexpected sources. As well as Forest and Bournemouth, Aston Villa are ahead of City, while Newcastle, Fulham and Brighton are also within a couple of points.
