Man City is still the strongest candidate to win the title again this season. defeat by Arsenal was very unfortunate. But any strong club will definitely experience defeat every once in a while. They will not be able to always win matches without ever losing. And Arsenal is indeed on fire. so I'm not surprised they are superior. Meanwhile, Man City is currently being hit by player injuries. If Gundogan is still at Man City, I am sure the absence of several Man City players will not really affect the club's performance. Currently Man City is indeed weaker than usual. But last season something like this happened. But in the end Man City was able to bounce back at the right time and win the title last season. Even though last season Arsenal were only a few steps away from winning the title. But Man City still succeeded in overtaking them well.
Still remember with Manchester City start last season not running well but finally success become the winner and eliminated Arsenal from top standings position, too early for speculating Manchester City is not candidate teams for defending their premier league tittle. Its not huge problem with two matches loss in a row because they have mentality winning exactly on crucial match and less having by other teams. I believe with Manchester City still has opportunity back to the top standings position actually last two matches loss without their player Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne. Haaland faced difficult with scoring goals due he loss his partner Kevin De Bruyne and problem for Pep Guardiola how to find with replacement and make Manchester City bounce to top performance.