MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 04: Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City celebrates with teammate Jeremy Doku after scoring his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Nottingham Forest FC at Etihad Stadium on December 04, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 04: Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City celebrates with teammate Jeremy Doku after scoring his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Nottingham Forest FC at Etihad Stadium on December 04, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
What a difference half a week makes.
Manchester City were out of the title race on Sunday evening, and nobody knew where the next win would come from. Fast forward to Wednesday, and they were already eating into Liverpool's lead and started to look like their usual selves.
There were still some nervy moments against Nottingham Forest, some experiments that didn't always work, and three more players picked up injury or illness issues. But considering the torrid form before it, this could prove to be the most important three points of the season.
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That will only be the case if City manage to haul themselves back in a title race that looked beyond them. Having slumped to fifth and 11 points behind Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, three days later that gap was cut to nine and the Blues are back in the top four. Baby steps.
'We won, that is the difference,' said Pep Guardiola after Forest, refusing to herald the victory as any significant success despite it being the first taste of victory in 40 days. Kevin De Bruyne added: "It's been a hard period but we have to accept the challenge. The Premier League is getting harder and harder and every team is tough to play."
According to goalscorer Jeremy Doku, the bad run was never down to a lack of belief. City always knew they would turn things around.
"We were waiting for this win. We are used to winning so when we had some difficulties to win a game it's difficult to take," he said. "We didn't listen to the noise of the outside. We just kept working and grinding. Today was a good game. We recover tomorrow and hope to continue this.
"We looked back on the games, what we can do different. There were no doubts in our qualities. We won a lot, losing games doesn't mean we're bad. We tried to work every day harder, harder, harder. We knew at one point it would work and then the most important thing is to continue."
And Doku then turned defiant, reflecting on that 'noise' that has followed City when they couldn't win. There have been the predictable inquests into their form, but also talk of eras ending, of the team being too old, or too reliant on one or two particular players.
"We just don't listen," Doku insisted. "At the end of the day when everything goes well they're going to hype you up. When everything goes bad you're the worst. We don't listen, we concentrate on ourselves in our bubble. We know together we'll be stronger."
With Liverpool crowned Premier League champions-elect in some quarters this week, Guardiola refuses to entertain title talk when City couldn't even win a game. De Bruyne, who has a similar mindset to his manager, agreed: "Everybody is taking points off everybody. We have to improve. First we have to try to win games and we'll see in a couple of months where we are."
But Doku, a youthful influence in the squad, had a more biting response to anyone writing City off in the title race. "They can say whatever they want," he said.
"We just stay in our bubble. We're still in December. If they think it's over, let them think it's over. We are going to look game by game, try to win as much as possible, and we will see at the end."
Maybe that's the key for this City side who have won so much and dominated so many title races. Even when they have come from behind to win titles, they have never been as far behind as this week or in such a mess. They have always been favourites even when they don't have the points on the board. It has only been a matter of time before they put a run together and return to the top.
Now, the four-in-a-row champions must adopt a new role in the title race: the underdog, the outsiders. And there is nobody in the dressing room writing them off internally, whatever Guardiola says. Game on.