Arsenal legend Martin Keown says there’s fear amongst Manchester City players, which could be attributed to their poor form.
City are currently seventh on the log and are 12 points behind leaders Liverpool.
The league champions’ hopes of bouncing back from their recent poor form suffered another setback no thanks to a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.
It is now just one win in over 10 games for the Manchester club.
“If you look at Man City, what we’re seeing now is almost unprecedented,” Keown told talkSPORT.
“They need to look now and readjust and maybe look at what is a realistic thing for them to achieve.
“They can’t fall out of the top four, that will be what they’re looking at. There’s a lot hanging over their heads with these [130 financial] charges.
“I don’t know if that’s played a major part, but they just seem to have lost their momentum.
“And now they’re almost losing every game, it’s like that has become a habit now – the basics have gone out the window.
“Their defenders who were unbeatable last year, now I can smell fear amongst their players, against Villa there was definitely a fear on the pitch, that’s got to be eradicated.
“They’ve got to keep believing and try and pull [themselves] out of trouble, [but] I don’t think they can go above Liverpool now, it just looks as though there’s too big a gap.
“Maybe they could do in previous Man City [teams], but not this current group.”
