When Gabriel Martinelli's shot deflected off Nathan Aké's face on Sunday, we entered into uncharted territory.
With the 1-0 loss to Arsenal, Manchester City achieved the unthinkable: they lost consecutive Premier League matches in a row. The last time that happened under Pep Guardiola? Boxing Day 2018, a 2-1 loss to Leicester City following a 3-2 loss to Crystal Palace. The only other time that happened under Guardiola was in December 2016, also against (the then-defending champs) Leicester, following a defeat against the eventual champions Chelsea.
Manchester City simply just don't lose soccer games. In Guardiola's seven full seasons with the club, they've averaged five league losses per season. When they won their first title under Pep, in 2017-18, they lost two games total. Last season, they didn't lose their second game until Matchday 14. We're only eight games into this season, and they're already there.
After City put together arguably the best individual season of any club in the modern history of English soccer last season, has something gone stale? "We do not have to win the Premier League," Guardiola said after the Arsenal game. "No team ever has won four Premier Leagues in a row."
City don't have to win the Premier League, and no one has ever won more consecutively, but we all expected them to do it anyway. Will they?