It won’t get easier for Pep’s top dogs

THIS is what Manchester City can expect now. They’ve set their mark. They are eight points clear. They are breaking records. But what I also saw in their performance at tigerish Huddersfield is that they can come from behind. They were 1-0 down at the interval to a goal at the end of the first half. The home side packed numbers behind the ball and compressed space to hamper City’s lightning attacking breaks. But Pep Guardiola’s men held their nerve, they weren’t rattled. The challenge was laid down and they dealt with it. It’s their first win coming from behind at half-time in an away Premier League game since April 1995, when they hit back from 2-1 down to beat Blackburn 3-2. Think about that. We know what they can do when they get ahead and blow you away, when Kevin De Bruyne is working his magic and it is all happening around him. Here they showed another side. It’s Southampton and West Ham at home next and they will expect to be just as far clear by the end of this week. Teams with more quality will, however, adopt similar tactics to Huddersfield. It’s only going to get harder for City from here. It’s why I can’t see them finishing the season unbeaten. The Christmas programme will give them a headache and they are determined to progress in the Champions League so they may have a hangover from a trip. And looming large on December 10 are United and Jose Mourinho. He may have taken more than a passing interest in how Huddersfield troubled the runaway leaders.