Manchester City is indeed still the top favorite to win the Premier League despite their current form aligns with the general perception of the team's capabilities. I believe Manchester City remains strongest team in the tittle race even without Kevin de Bruyne. Arsenal is another favorite who need to have ability to learn from past experiences and perform better, because that's the the right mentality to be a champion.
Manchester City was originally favored by champions. But without the presence of KDB and Haaland I saw them losing their best performance. That can be seen from bad results in the last few matches. I think City should start thinking of finding De Bruyne's replacement because he has begun to retire. And I think that as long as De Bruyne and Haaland don't play City will continue to get bad results.
I think the reign of Manchester city seems to be over in both the champion League and the Premier League respectfully since Manchester City have been a twice title holder in both leagues so for now it become a pay back time for them and for such Manchester city have to leave the title for other clubs who are already making good use of the current state of things in the premier leagues to accumulate alot of points that will help them to remain at top competitive position before the final stage of the competition.
I won't blame Manchester City current underperformance on the departure of some key players from the club but on poor management of their previous success and allowing themselves to get pushed below baseline from the very first stage of the current season which killed their motivations to keep pushing for the top, I was surprised when Manchester city played a draw game in their last match which was expected to be a walkover for the according to the fans expectations.