Guardiola signs City deal: Can Pep fix the problems laid bare this season?

You d be forgiven for thinking Manchester City were in serious trouble this season – after all, 12 points from seven games represents their worst start since 2008-09, when they went on to finish 10th.

But this is a season like no other, with the gap of only three points from first to sixth the smallest in the competition s history after eight games.

City remain six points behind leaders Leicester City and five behind Liverpool, but with a game in hand it s not quite as disastrous as it sounds. After all, City would not have handed Pep Guardiola a new two-year contract if they did not truly believe he was the right man to wrestle the crown back from Jurgen Klopp s Reds.

There are signs of life at City, but maybe not as we know it.

 

The defence…