Bar a minor miracle, it looks as if Manchester City will be forced to concede their Premier League title to rivals Manchester United by the time we reach the end of the season.

An unassailable 15-point gap has opened up between the two teams since the turn of the year, and with another Champions League failure to compound the Sky Blues misery, it looks as if this will be a season to forget for the league’s big spenders.

Nemanja Vidic was recently quoted as saying that the Red Devils are still haunted by City’s last gasp title win last year and will continue to do all they can to regain their Premier League crown as soon as possible.

The Serbia international claims that he and his teammates are aiming to break the record of the biggest winning margin in Premier League history, a record they set themselves in 2000 when they romped to a title win by no fewer than 18 points.

But what has gone wrong exactly? Has Roberto Mancini lost his drive? Are the players solely to blame? Or are they being affected by events off the pitch? We’ve attempted to address the club’s main problems this season in five points.

Click on the links below to scroll through the five reasons we think City have failed to retain their title this season.