#Pepout: Latest Man City defeat stokes social media mockery & hysteria over Guardiola

Premier League champions Manchester City suffered their second defeat in four days as they lost 2-1 to Leicester City, prompting social media users to issue pleas – real and mocking – for manager Pep Guardiola to get the boot.

City went down to defeat at Leicester as a late Ricardo Pereira stunner saw the Foxes come from behind after Marc Albrighton had canceled out Bernardo Silva’s opener for City.

It was City’s second successive Premier League defeat after their shock 3-2 home loss at the hands of Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The result leaves City third in the table, a point behind Tottenham, who smashed Bournemouth 5-0 at home, and seven adrift of Liverpool, who hammered Newcastle 4-0 as the Premier League went goal crazy on Boxing Day.

© Reuters / Carl Recine

City’s defeat left social media users scratching their heads at their poor form after a blistering start to the season.

It also got the #Pepout hashtag going – partly in jest but with some appearing to seriously back the calls.

TV pundit Gary Lineker got in on the act, simply posting the hashtag – minus any other comment – to his more than 7 million followers on Twitter.

Lineker is a known admirer of former Barcelona boss Guardiola – who guided City to the league title with an astonishing 100 points total last season – meaning the TV pundit’s message is sure to be tongue-in-cheek.

That was the case with many others posting about Guardiola.

Some of the calls appeared to be very real, however, as social media users claimed that Guardiola had “lost it” as his team slipped to third in the table.

City host Liverpool in a blockbuster game on January 3, which could see the Reds improve their gap over their Manchester rivals at the top of the table to 10 points.

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To compound Manchester City fans’ woes, rivals Manchester United recorded a comfortable 3-1 win over Huddersfield at Old Trafford – their second win in two games under new boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer since he took over from the sacked Jose Mourinho.

Paul Pogba – so often marginalized under Mourinho – struck a double in that game as he scored for the first time since October.

It even lead to claims that, should Guardiola exit City, Mourinho could step in.

That would surely be taking things just a little bit too far...