Injuries are having a big impact on Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola has always made changes and rotated his squad, but there was still a core group of players who played the majority of the games. That included Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne.

Every club at some point goes through an injury crisis (we saw it in Newcastle last season and in Brentford, where they were missing 10 players), but before you know it, you don’t have time to be the best version of yourself. .

This is by no means a general crisis for City. It just feels that way because they’ve lost three games in a row.

If Liverpool hadn’t gotten off to a near-perfect start, City would still be at the top of the table.

It’s just not what we’re used to seeing from Guardiola. You have to choose whoever is available rather than who will make the best team for each match. That’s affecting the flow of their season.

Some players come back for a week and then are out for two more, so it’s hard to say at this point in the season which players are in great shape, as many of them haven’t had the stability to play.

City can change things, but it will be difficult to do so because while they are down, the other teams will be up and will recognize that it is a good time to play them.

And, although it is still a good team, it is not the best version we have seen of them in recent years.

Nedum Onuoha spoke to BBC Sport’s Katie Stafford