Manchester City’s standards have been so high in a season that has seen them march relentlessly towards the Premier League title, as well as lifting the EFL Cup, that a run of three defeats represents easily their worst spell of the season.
The high-profile nature of the matches – which arguably made up their biggest of the season – means that the timing of the slump could not have been any worse for the former Barcelona manager.
That means he takes his side to Wembley to face Tottenham on Saturday with his side suddenly rattled and slightly vulnerable and has no shortage of questions to answer ahead of the trip to North London.
Football FanCast have taken a closer look at some of the issues that will be occupying Guardiola’s mind as he looks to get his side back on track and avoid making it four defeats in a row on Saturday…
Should Aguero be recalled?
On a night when City needed goals against Liverpool, Aguero was left on the bench as Guardiola went in search of thrust from wide areas and midfield control.
It nearly paid off and if City had gone in 2-0 up at half-time as they should have – if Leroy Sane’s goal wasn’t disallowed for offside – then we might be viewing Guardiola’s decision in a different light.
However, the fact remains that it didn’t come off and the City boss surely has to consider bringing the Argentine back into the starting eleven here.
Who should play in holding midfield?
As City lost their heads in the second half of last weekend’s Manchester derby, Fernandinho picked up his tenth booking of the season and that means that he will miss the next two matches.
That could pose something of a problem for Guardiola because there is no obvious candidate to stand in. Ilkay Gundogan could deputise as a conservative midfielder or maybe the Catalan – ever the innovator – could move John Stones into the role.
Either way, there should be space in the hole for Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli to exploit and one of Guardiola’s main concerns will be how to plug that gap.
Who is Spurs’ biggest threat?
Harry Kane is now back in the fold and – after a week of consternation – it was decided that he was back among the goals with a glanced strike against Stoke to leave him four behind Mo Salah in the race for the Golden Boot.
However, with the English striker still not quite at his sharpest, it is Christian Eriksen who may well represent the biggest threat to Guardiola’s vulnerable backline.
As we’ve mentioned, there might well be space in behind the City midfield and the man valued at £63m by Transfermarkt will fancy his chances of getting away from Kyle Walker and exploiting it.