Looks like City’s title

IT MIGHT be considered premature, but I think … I think we can call it … Manchester City will be champions of England once again this season.

There is much football to come, but as City prepare for the Manchester derby this weekend, I reckon it would be safe to say that it is the Sky Blues’ title to lose. They hold a 15-point lead at the top of the league, and are enjoying a 21-game winning streak with the added record of not having trailed an encounter in 19 league games.

Pep Guardiola's team simply seem irrepressible at the moment, and their nearest competitors have been flailing about, and stumbling in their contention for the crown. Defending champions Liverpool seem to be suffering from one helluva hangover. Chelsea have engineered their own downfall, while Tottenham are just too inconsistent at the moment. Leicester City are punching above their weight and all power to them, but with only 10 or so games left, you'd imagine the pressure will be too much for them to handle.

Ruefully, the only club that can derail the Sky Blues at the moment, are the Red Devils. For that to happen, United must beat their neighbours handsomely on Sunday. And while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has done a fine job in revitalising the club in recent months, they suffer from a malaise that strikes unbidden at the most crucial of times.

No, the only thing that can defeat the Citizens at the moment is pressure, and that must begin to build this weekend, otherwise we must all be prepared to grimace, save if you are one of their supporters, at the end of the season when City lift their fifth national title in a decade.