Sergio Aguero insists it is "not wise" to rule out the prospect of Manchester City catching Liverpool at the top of the Premier League.
Liverpool opened up an eight-point gap at the summit on Sunday with a 3-2 win over Southampton, a day on from City's humiliating 4-0 home loss to Tottenham.
It marks the second-biggest lead by a team at the top after 12 matches of a Premier League campaign, bettered only by Manchester United's nine-point advantage in 1993-94.
However, City have previously made up ground when trailing Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool to win the title – the latter by 10 points in 2018-19.
And Aguero, a five-time Premier League title winner with City, has warned Liverpool that history could yet repeat itself this season.
"Pundits are always quick to call the race and my response is always the same: it ain't over until it's over," he told Stake.com.
"The current point advantage may be insignificant by the end of the season. We've seen that happen frequently.
"The 2011-12 season had us eight points below United and we took that trophy."
City are the first reigning English top-flight champions to lose five games in a row in all competitions since Chelsea in March 1956.Three of those losses have come in the Premier League, which Opta's supercomputer now gives Pep Guardiola's side just a 15.4% chance of winning.
That compares to 76% for Liverpool, but those percentages could swing drastically should City pick up three points at Anfield when the sides face off next weekend.
"Beating Liverpool will certainly help," Aguero said. "But it's not wise to make such sweeping statements when the tournament still has a long way to go."
