Manchester City have become champions of England four times in a row, but their latest title defense has gotten off to a terrible start.
Sunday's 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United was City's tenth winless match in eleven competitions.
It ensured that Pep Guardiola's men finished fifth in the Premier League after sixteen rounds, nine points behind leader Liverpool, which still has a game in hand.
City now have 27 points from a possible 48 this season.
If their recent form doesn't improve significantly, this could be one of the worst title defenses in Premier League history.
But what were the worst so far? Here, Mail Sport looks back at some of the least impressive reigning champions of the Premier League era.
Blackburn Rovers 1995-96
Blackburn Rovers wrote the original fairytale title story of the Premier League when the Lancashire city club dethroned Manchester United in May 1995.
Rovers had only been promoted from the old Division 2 during the 1991-92 campaign.
But thanks to 34 goals from Alan Shearer, Blackburn defeated United on the final day of the season to win the title with 89 points from 42 games.
However, Rovers had only 21 points after 16 games the following season and would finish with just 61 points at the end of the Premier League's first ever 38-match campaign.
That result saw them finish seventh – 21 points behind champions United.
Manchester United 2013-2014
Despite the current title drought, Manchester United is still the most successful club in the history of the Premier League.
The Red Devils have become Premier League champions thirteen times and have defended their title six times.
But United have not finished in first place since legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013.
Ferguson put his managerial career into focus after guiding United to 89 points in his last Premier League campaign.
His replacement David Moyes could only manage 25 points from his first sixteen Premier League games the following season before he was eventually sacked.
United finished seventh with 64 points, 22 fewer than champions Manchester City.
Chelsea 2015-16
Jose Mourinho led Chelsea to a Premier League and EFL Cup double in 2014/2015.
His Blues side – featuring John Terry, Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard and a returning Didier Drogba – lost just three games on their way to winning the title by 87 points.
But Mourinho would be sacked midway through the 2015/2016 season after Chelsea had taken just 15 points from their first 16 league matches.
Chelsea were 16th when Mourinho left and finished 10th with 50 points – 31 fewer than champions Leicester.
However, after appointing Antonio Conte in July 2016, Chelsea made a full recovery by winning the league the following season with an impressive 93 points.
Leicester City 2016-17
Leicester City shocked the football world in the 2015/2016 season when they won the Premier League after narrowly avoiding relegation in the previous campaign.
N'Golo Kante was everywhere, Wes Morgan and Robert Huth were rock solid, Riyad Mahrez was on fire and Jamie Vardy had a famous party.
But after losing just three games and amassing a total of 81 title-winning points, everyone wanted to know if the Foxes could repeat the feat.
They couldn't. In fact, despite reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, Leicester finished the 2016/2017 season much closer to the bottom of the Premier League than the top.
After taking just 16 points from their first 16 games, the Foxes finished with 44 and a goal difference of minus-15. The Vardy party was over.
Liverpool 2020-21
Liverpool's only title-winning Premier League campaign to date has been spectacular.
Jurgen Klopp's men earned 99 points in the 2019/20 season after becoming only the second team in Premier League history to win 32 games in a single season.
The season was notably disrupted by the COVID pandemic, which also led to most of the subsequent campaign being played behind closed doors.
Liverpool apparently missed their fans a lot. Sixteen games into the 2020/21 season they had just 33 points – not a terrible number, but 13 fewer than at the same stage of their title-winning run.
The Reds would finish third with 69 points: five fewer than Manchester United and seventeen fewer than champions Manchester City.
Liverpool currently appear to be on course to win only their second title in the Premier League era.
Now led by Arne Slot, the Reds have lost just one of their first fifteen league games this season.
Liverpool have already beaten Chelsea, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Manchester United, with their only defeat so far coming against fourth-placed Nottingham Forest.
If Slot's men stay on course, the Dutchman will become the twelfth manager to win the Premier League – after Ferguson (13), Guardiola (6), Mourinho (3), Arsene Wenger (3), Conte, Klopp, Carlo Ancelotti, Claudio Ranieri, Kenny Dalglish, Manuel Pellegrini and Roberto Mancini.
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