Manchester City have full potentiality to get in top four and finish this season in top four at the season ending but they are weaker than previous season and currently they are in a very tight competition with many clubs for top four. This tightness of competition means there is no much space for mistakes and the season is no longer too long with many matches left for them to fix mistakes.
This season is going to its very last weeks and matches that decide ending rank of each club, and mistakes during this important phase will be paid with very expensive cost. Anyway with quality, experience and mentality of champion, I believe Manchester City will be able to handle this task well enough and a position in top four will belong to them in late of May.
They would have the potential without a doubt, the team is made up of strong players, however from a morale point of view i see it with a negative outlook, i don't see them motivated and i don't see how they can get out of the ditch. In my opinion they won't get to the Champions League and i think the coach is risking his job
I think Pep Guardiola is not thinking that he might lose his job because of the team's poor performance but he is thinking why the team is doing poorly under him and what can he do to make his team better again. Manchester City will not be in the top four this season according to your opinion but I think since Pep Guardiola is in charge of this team he will either way finish the season from 1st to 4th position. The teams that are in the first place may be competing hard, so it is definitely difficult to get to the top of the points table, but Manchester City and Manchester City will compete well with the teams that are next in the points table, but there will be enough chances to be in the 1st to 4th position of the points table and play in the Champions League next season. If for some reason Manchester City can't play the Champions League next season then I'd say a strong team will be out of the Champions Trophy competition.