A shift of focus for Manchester City

What a difference six weeks can make. On November 24, City sat third in the Premier League table — eight points behind leaders Chelsea — and dead last in Champions League Group E on just two points from four games played. Having been unceremoniously bounced out of the Capital One Cup a month earlier due to a home upset at the hands of Newcastle, the FA Cup was looking like the only realistic path to silverware this season for Manuel Pellegrini, whose job security was being openly questioned.

But City suddenly got their act together, putting together a nine-match winning streak. Meanwhile, previously invincible Chelsea have come back to earth, allowing City to claw their way level atop the league table this past weekend. And a back-from-the-dead miracle in the Champions League saw the Blues advance to the knockout stages. Suddenly, the FA Cup has gone from a vital final lifeline to a bit of a distraction from the club’s Premier League and Champions League campaigns.

So when City went behind at home to Championship side Sheffield Wednesday thanks to an early goal on the counterattack, you couldn’t fault the home supporters from thinking it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if they were to bow out early from the competition. Especially after witnessing the impact of fixture congestion on last season’s campaign in the form of fatigue and injuries.

James Milner’s equaliser in the second half had City staring at the worst-case scenario of squeezing in a mid-week replay at Hillsborough in the coming weeks. It was imperative that another goal be scored. The identity of the team doing that scoring was of distant, secondary concern.

When Milner eventually grabbed his brace in stoppage time to send the hosts through to Monday’s draw for the fourth round proper, it was a reminder to City fans that the thrill of victory was much preferable to the sour grapes of losing. The reality is that if you can avoid replays, the FA Cup isn’t much of a contributor to fixture congestion. The semifinals are the only FA Cup round that will require the rescheduling of a league fixture this season.

Aside from a lower prioritization of the competition and rotating the squad accordingly for FA Cup ties, there’s no reason City can’t compete on a third front this season. Of course, getting injured strikers Sergio Agüero and Edin Džeko back is paramount. City are coming out of a relatively easy run of fixtures without the striking duo and captain Vincent Kompany, but that changes in a big way with tough league dates at Everton, home to Arsenal, and at Chelsea looming this month.

Even with City’s reversal of fortunes in the league and in Europe, Pellegrini may end up needing the FA Cup to avoid a trophy-less season. Spanish giants Barcelona are the opposition in a challenging Champions League Last 16 tie. And despite their drop in form, Chelsea still have to be considered favorites to win the Premier League by virtue of the fact they only have one Big Six away fixture remaining (at Arsenal), while City still have yet to visit Stamford Bridge, Anfield, Old Trafford, and White Hart Lane this season. It’s clearly “Advantage: Challengers” in the league title race right now.

The good news for City is that they’ve regained the services of David Silva and Yaya Touré is back to turning in influential performances in the midfield after a slow start to the campaign. In spite of conceding twice against both Burnley and Sunderland recently, the defense is looking tighter thanks to an improved left side of the defense featuring the resurgent Gaël Glichy and Eliaquim Mangala beginning to find his feet in England. When the strike force returns to full strength later this month, City could be poised for a barnstorming second half of the season.

The only question will be whether the slip-ups from the first half of the season prove costly in the end to the bid to retain their Premier League title. The shocking home loss to Stoke City and the sorry squandering of a two-goal lead in the recent home draw with Burnley will be a lot to overcome. Chelsea figure to drop points at home at some point, but it’s hard to imagine them doing so against clubs in the bottom half of the table like City have done twice now. A win for the visitors in the crunch heavyweight showdown at Stamford Bridge later this month would go a long way to making up for those two home results.