Manchester City made it five defeats on the spin at the weekend, losing 4-0 to Tottenham Hotspur.
Despite the great news in midweek of Pep Guardiola extending his contract at City, the team produced a poor performance at the Etihad Stadium, with Tottenham able to exploit City’s vulnerable defence and midfield.
James Maddison scored twice in the first-half, before Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson added goals in the second-half.
After the game, Guardiola admitted City are ‘fragile defensively’ right now.
City are missing Rodri a lot, and are just so easy to play through. Fans were left very worried about Ilkay Gundogan after his display against Spurs, and Rico Lewis’ form has really dipped in recent weeks.
Up next for City is Liverpool away, and Guardiola might want to consider dropping Josko Gvardiol.
Josko Gvardiol shouldn’t be risked against red-hot Mo Salah after recent dip
Arguably in the first couple of months of the season, Gvardiol was one of the strongest performers for City.
The £77 million signing was an attacking threat, and relatively solid on that left side.
However lately, Gvardiol’s form has really dipped and against Spurs, he should have done much better with the opening goal and put the ball out of playing rather than letting Dejan Kulusevski have it.
He also played the ball to Spurs for the second goal.
This followed a very shaky performance from Gvardiol for Croatia against Scotland over the international break, with Ben Doak giving him a torrid time.
Simply put, if Nathan Ake is fit to play from the start against Liverpool then Guardiola shouldn’t hesitate.
Mo Salah will be on that right side for the Reds and arguably, he’s the best player in the Premier League right now.
To stick with Gvardiol against him could be asking for trouble, but Ake – who replaced the injured John Stones at half-time against Spurs – has actually fared well against Salah in the past.
What is Mo Salah’s record vs Man City?
Without a doubt, City must keep Salah quiet if they are to take any points from this game.
The Egyptian is in red-hot form at the moment and is now breathing down Erling Haaland’s neck for the Golden Boot with 10 goals. City’s number nine has 12.
He may be 32 now, but Salah is showing no signs of slowing down and looks as big a threat as ever.
But how many goals does Salah have against City in his career?
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  LiverpoolLiverpool | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 8 | 16 | 31 |
| 2 |  Man CityManchester City | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 22 | 17 | 5 | 23 |
| 3 |  ChelseaChelsea | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 23 | 14 | 9 | 22 |
| 4 |  ArsenalArsenal | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 12 | 9 | 22 |
| 5 |  BrightonBrighton | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 16 | 5 | 22 |
| 6 |  TottenhamTottenham | 12 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 27 | 13 | 14 | 19 |
The winger has been pretty successful against City, having scored 11 goals in 21 career appearances against the club. He’s also laid on six assists for teammates in games against City.
There are only three other clubs who Salah has actually scored more goals against than City in his career; Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United.
City are very vulnerable right now and must be extremely careful next weekend.
Gvardiol has been dubbed ‘quality’ by Rodri previously and has earned a lot of plaudits since his move to the Etihad. But after a string of poor displays recently, he just might not be worth the risk against Liverpool, as much as he does provide an attacking threat.
