Manchester City's losing streak is over.
On Wednesday night, the Sky Blues swatted aside Nottingham Forest 3-0 at the Etihad, with Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Jérémy Doku all on target.
This ended a sequence of four successive Premier League defeats, while the Citizens were winless in seven across all competitions overall, completely collapsing against Feyenoord during the only game they didn't lose the previous mid-week, failing to win a match in which they were 3-0 up for the first time since May 1989.
Liverpool players celebrate vs Manchester City
Thus, with many of Man City's key performers over 30, Ederson, John Stones, Mateo Kovačić, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and İlkay Gündoğan to name but a few, Pep Guardiola has plenty of pondering to do, having signed a two-year contract extension in mid-November.
However, the form of Kyle Walker in particular has been alarming; more on him shortly.
Manchester City's drop in standards
The absence of Rodri, who suffered an ACL injury against Arsenal in late September, is often cited as the primary reason for Manchester City's decline.
Of course, this is a factor, but there is certainly more to it, as the numbers below suggest.
For so long during their four-in-a-row dominance of the Premier League, Pep Guardiola's team were completely water-tight at the back, conceding very few chances and, therefore, goals.
Man City: Season-by-season comparison
Season
2024/25
2023/24
2022/23
2021/22
2020/21
Statistics courtesy of FBref
However, they were brutally exposed during recent hammerings at the hands of Tottenham and Liverpool, with their midfield overrun and back-line given little-to-no protection, meaning the fear factor that they boasted for so long has vanished as fast as quicksand.
pep-guardiola-man-city-tottenham-champions-league
A large reason for that has been their right-back...
Kyle Walker's rapid decline
For so long, Manchester City could count on Walker's recovery speed to get them out of jail, but Michael Cox claims they had become "overly reliant" on this meaning, now his lightning-quick pace is no longer there, they are not set up to cope.
kyle walker
Journalist Aaron Catterson-Reid described Walker's performances in apt words; his "decline has been insane", with Spurs' fourth goal at the Etihad, scored by Brennan Johnson from mere picometres out, the starkest example of this with Timo Werner, freshly introduced as a substitute, sprinting past Walker like very few have ever been able to do before.
In the past, Man City could play a seemingly kamikaze-high defensive line but would rely on the England veteran sweeping up in behind, if an onrushing attacker was able to break their offside trap.
As Kevin Garside writes, Walker is used to being "quicker than any opponent he faced" before pointing out that Antoine Semenyo, Adama Traroé and now the aforementioned Werner have all breezed beyond him in recent weeks, showing that the superpower he once possessed for so long is no more.
The likes of Espanyol's Omar El Hilali, Vanderson of Monaco and former Man City academy graduate Jeremie Frimpong have all been linked as potential replacements and, the way this season is going, it will surely be Walker's last donning a blue shirt.
Man-City-Premier-League-Rodri Related
Forget Gundogan: Man City star who had 98% passing could be Pep's new Rodri
Manchester City emphatically returned to winning ways with a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest.