History shows that Man City face a real battle to become champions

By now, we're all well aware that this year's Premier League has been one of the strangest ones to date.

If Leicester City being top and the reigning champions flirting with relegation wasn't enough to convince you, maybe the following statistic will. Despite losing 2-1 to Arsenal, Manchester City are very much in contention to become Premier League champions by the time May comes along. However, their loss at the Emirates was their fifth league defeat of the season so far. As pointed out by @OptaJoe, no team has won the top flight having lost five games before Christmas in almost 30 years. https://twitter.com/OptaJoe/status/679057724001222656 City lie six points behind Leicester and have accumulated more defeats in the league than their neighbours Manchester United, whose manager Louis van Gaal is believed to be dangerously close to being shown the Old Trafford door. Although the statistic suggests a City triumph is unlikely, anything appears possible this season.