Football: it's a rough-and-tumble business these days, with only those teams who are financially stable being able to 'stay the distance', whilst others fall by the wayside. Manchester City have had a certain amount of success in recent years, but, after two defeats in five days - against lowly Crystal Palace and Leicester City no less - the question on everyone's lips is:
"Can they survive?"
There have been good times since new Arab owner, Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan bin Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan took the reins at City, and they have won the Premier League title four times in the last eight years, but, as sports fans will know, everything comes to an end, and City fans will be looking warily over their shoulders as their team starts to descend the league table on the back of these two defeats.
The breathless and choking atmosphere could be felt at Maine Road last Saturday, as unfancied Palace scored three goals to inflict an embarrassing loss on City manager Pep Guardiola, and a 2-1 reverse at Filbert Street last night won't have helped. The Spaniard is now worried about his future.
Expect a change at the helm if City fail to pick up all three points against Southampton at The Dell on Sunday.
