Michael Owen's Man City prediction ringing true after latest calamitous defeat

Michael Owen is often mocked for his punditry takes, and that was no different this season.

has won the last four Premier Leagues in a row, so 's comments naturally raised eyebrows, as nobody could have predicted the downfall the team has experienced this season.

Owen himself surely wouldn't have envisaged City going on a run of one win 12 matches in all competitions, but that is exactly the run Pep Guardiola and his players find themselves on after Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa in the Premier League.

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Former Liverpool striker Owen's prediction from August resurfaced on social media during the game between Villa and City, and Owen clearly enjoyed seeing it as he responded with a tongue-in-cheek upside-down smiley-face emoji.

Back at the start of the season, Owen told Casino Hawks: “Arsenal and Manchester City will go in virtually everybody’s top four predictions and I think Liverpool will probably be in there as well despite there being some questions over how well Arne Slot will fit in.

“I had a thought about Newcastle but Aston Villa are solid and look to be still improving. In terms of the order, my thought process is if City are not gonna win it, they could actually drop away a little bit.

“It’s almost like if City are not gonna be really in the race after 10 games then their priority could go elsewhere – I think there could be a big surprise this season. I’m going to go for Arsenal first, Liverpool second, Aston Villa third and Manchester City fourth.”

City could find itself as far down as ninth in the table on Christmas Day if Bournemouth, Fulham and Brighton all record healthy wins over the remainder of the weekend, and Owen might now be wishing he had excluded Guardiola's men from his top-four predictions altogether.