~Snip
If not from a big fan of Manchester City, I don’t think someone will just wake up and alter that word that Manchester City will be the favorite to win the title of the Champions League this season, claiming they are strong. When we all know that this season's Champions League is filled with competition and challenges from many other sides of many other teams. So claiming a best or favorite team that will win the title of this season's Champions League is not that simple that you can just wake up a day and decide. Although it is coming from a club fan, he needs to have that belief and hope in the team, so it is not his fault; he is just motivating himself.
In fact, losing the first few matches does not erase Manchester City's favorite status as one of the best teams in the Champions League who will win the title. Even though Manchester City lost their previous match against Sporting, their probability of reaching the final this season is still high compared to PSG, Bayern Munich and many other teams. Manchester City can still be the favorite even though so far they have had 1 loss and 1 draw in 4 matches, the probability has not changed in my opinion.
Moreover, predicting Manchester City as a candidate to win the Champions League title this season is not as nonsense as you describe. Manchester City is one of the good teams to hope for, this is not an unreasonable prediction without taking anything into consideration. Every team can still fail, even the ones we underestimate today may still be able to reach the final and win the title.