With 76 minutes gone at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night, Phil Foden was culpable for what might prove the title race’s defining moment. With Manchester City leading Nottingham Forest 2-1, Foden lost Elliot Anderson, who ran off him and curled home a 20-yard equaliser. Sixty seconds later, Pep Guardiola substituted his England playmaker.

As Morgan Gibbs-White’s first equaliser could also be traced back to a loose Foden touch, this was a miserable evening for him: City managed only a draw, and as Arsenal won at Brighton, the title race tilted the Gunners’ way.

This is the latest evidence of Foden’s form flatlining precisely when City need him for the business end of the campaign. Guardiola’s side is not the sleek winning machine of the 2022-23 treble, nor the following term’s record-breaking iteration that claimed a fourth consecutive title, but they are still chasing a historic quadruple.

On Saturday night City are at Newcastle in the FA Cup fifth round. In the Champions League they are in Spain on Wednesday to play Real Madrid in the first leg of their last 16 tie. On 22 March they...