Is Kyle Walker To Blame For Man City's Current Slump?

Manchester City's poor run of results continued with a 2-1 defeat to neighbours Manchester United at the Etihad. 

With just two minutes to play, City led 1-0 and looked set to get back to winning ways after claiming just one victory in their previous 10 games. 

However, Matheus Nunes' moment of madness when he tried to atone for poor back pass by fouling Amad Diallo, after a poor back pass, gave United a penalty converted by Bruno Fernandes.

Less than a minute later, Diallo capitalised on more poor defending to score the winner and condemn City to their fifth defeat in seven league games.

Football betting sites have odds of 16/1 for City to rediscover their form and win their fifth title in a row. 

Pep Guardiola's side are nine points behind Liverpool, who have a game in hand. So, who's to blame for City's downfall? 

Gambling.com is launching its Player Goal Differential, which tracks the number of goals scored and conceded by teams when every player is on the pitch. 

Of all the players to have played a minute for any of the traditional top-six sides (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man United and Tottenham), Kyle Walker has the worst score.

Walker has been on the pitch for a total of 873 minutes so far this season and during that time, City have conceded eight goals more than they have scored.

To put that into context, no Liverpool player has a negative score at this stage of the season.

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Walker, who helped England reach the final of Euro 2024 in Germany in the summer, seems to have lost some of the form that made him one of the best defenders in the world. 

In the recent 4-0 defeat to Tottenham, Walker was beaten for pace in the final minute by Timo Werner, who crossed for his side's final goal, scored by Brennan Johnson.

It was a Manchester derby to forget for Walker, who was booked for his part in an incident with United forward Rasmus Hojlund.

Hojlund reacted to a challenge by Walker and confronted the City defender as the pair went head-to-head. 

Walker fell to the ground like he had been headbutted, but replays showed there was no forward motion by the United man. 

The question for Guardiola ahead of their busy festive fixtures, which sees the Cityzens travel to Aston Villa and Leicester either side of a home game with Everton, is whether to persevere with the defender. 

Walker is one of the more experienced players in the City squad, but at 34, it might be time to look for a replacement in the winter transfer window, which opens on January 1.

Diallo's derby winner was the 19th goal City have conceded with Walker part of their defence.

Josko Gvardiol's fourth league goal of the season, which looked to be the winning goal for City, was the 11th with Walker on the pitch.