In fact, other factors such as finances play an important role in creating consistency in a club performance. Regarding Man City chances this season, I agree with you that Pep Guardiola squad deserves to be called a strong candidate to win the championship trophy, other teams such as Madrid, Bayern Munchen and even Inter Milan also have the same bargaining value in this regard. Ups and downs in performance are not unique to City alone, and I don't think that necessarily changes their status as the favorite team in the UCL.
The competitive level of the domestic league really has a big influence, but the level of competitive intensity in the UCL demands more to be able to go further. The league that sends more representatives to the last 16 is indeed lucky, but surprises in the UCL often happen unexpectedly, who knows, the team that is not the favorite can make it to the final this season, we'll see when we approach February.
Let's see how the top 16 goes. this is not an easy thing to accomplish for the favorite team. there are a lot of strong teams at the moment, and I just hope they can get a spot for the top 8 and even the quarterfinals.
The Champions League will be very interesting for betting. especially if strong teams meet in the next round. Maybe in the round of 16, we will see several teams that are favorites will dominate. but when we get to the next round we will only see the team that plays totally and is very serious who will win.
Madrid, Munich, Man City, and Barcelona will probably be more favorites.