Manchester City captain Ilkay Gundogan believes that there has been a special ingredient missing from his team in recent weeks ahead of the derby on Saturday.
Goals from Sekou Mara and Moussa Djenepo saw the Blues' chances of winning the quadruple fall at Southampton. The shock defeat on the south coast was far from ideal as City prepare for a trip to Old Trafford on Saturday.
Manchester United currently sit four points behind City and will be looking for revenge after the 6-3 defeat in October. Worryingly from a Blues perspective, the German midfielder believes that there has been something off in the past few matches despite victories against Chelsea, Leeds United and Liverpool.
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Speaking to reporters post-match, the 32-year-old said: "In the last two weeks, I feel like something was missing, something’s off. With the quality we have, we always have to win games.
"At the moment, it feels like there's a special ingredient missing; the performances, the desire, the hunger is maybe not as it was in recent years, so hopefully [the loss to Southampton] will be a wake-up call for us. Hopefully it was the right wake-up call for us.
"If it is it's something good we can take out of the game. We need to start the hard work again, be humble because things won't come to us automatically."
Matches against United have been kind for the Blues in recent times but Pep Guardiola will be wary that this Reds team is in a better place than it has been under previous managers. Since the World Cup break, the Reds have won every match they have played and conceded just one goal in the process.
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