LONDON • Pundits like Jermaine Jenas had warned the loss of Aymeric Laporte would "shift the Premier League title towards Liverpool".

The Frenchman, Manchester City's best defender, picked up a serious knee injury in their last league match against Brighton that will leave him on the sidelines for six months.

The absence of Laporte has left Pep Guardiola short on defensive options, after he chose not to replace former captain Vincent Kompany in the summer.

And multiple predictions that their makeshift centre-back pairing of John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi would be vulnerable came true on Saturday night as the English champions slumped to an upset 3-2 away defeat by Norwich.

The hosts went two-up inside the opening half an hour through Kenny McLean and Todd Cantwell, and, while Sergio Aguero pulled one back just before half-time, Teemu Pukki's sixth league strike of the season gave the hosts their first win over City in six years, with Rodri scoring a consolation goal late on.

Guardiola later put up a brave front, insisting that his team simply could not be "expected to win or pick up 100 points all the time", but, privately, the Spaniard will be a worried man after a defensive horror show, particularly from Otamendi.

He said: "We're going to recover now and come back. Sometimes, games like this happen - we had our chances to score but didn't, so congratulations to Norwich.

"It is football - we had many opportunities today, they had three or four and scored three goals.

"The first one was a set-piece we didn't defend; the second, we were caught on the counter-attack and the third came from a mistake.

"But we know what we are as a team, we know what we have done and we know what we are going to do."

City beat Liverpool to the title by a solitary point last season after winning their last 14 games and losing only twice.

However, they already trail Jurgen Klopp's side by five points after five games into the term, and, unless Guardiola can mitigate the loss of Laporte - at least until the January transfer window opens - then the Reds will surely be the favourites as they seek to end a 29-year wait for a league title.

The loss at Carrow Road - City's first defeat by a newly promoted side in 25 games dating back to March 2015 - was all the more astounding as the Canaries were so depleted that they had to name two goalkeepers on their bench.

But they were helped out by a hapless Otamendi, who was robbed by Emiliano Buendia for Pukki to slot home the third.

Guardiola, however, defended the Argentina international's error-strewn display, adding: "John and Nico have played together many times and been a huge part of what we have done."

Rodri also claimed that the loss was a one-off as "it's early in the season", but their excuses cut little ice with pundit Jamie Redknapp, who blasted Otamendi for making a mistake that even "a Sunday league footballer wouldn't have done".

He told the Daily Mail: "Guardiola's got a difficult job. He's got to find a way of getting these two to play together."

ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS