Aleksandar Kolarov says it is a tougher challenge to win the Premier League this season because some of their rivals are not playing in Europe.
Manchester City were knocked from the top of the table before the international break after a 1-1 draw against newly promoted Middlesbrough at the Etihad.
That disappointing result came just four days after City had beaten Barcelona 3-1 to put them on the verge of reaching the Champions League knockout stages.
Liverpool and Chelsea took the opportunity to leap ahead of City in the Premier League table after both sides had a free midweek after failing to qualify for Europe.
And Kolarov is predicting a tight title race between those sides and warns that Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United are also serious challengers.
"I think the battle for the title will go down to the last day," the Serbian defender said. "Chelsea and Liverpool aren't playing midweek games but I think this is a great challenge for us to show that even if they have more time to recover and more time to work we can try to win.
"Liverpool and Chelsea are both playing very well but I think Arsenal are always great, Tottenham and United are both there so you can't eliminate anyone.
"In one or two games you can be in first position and then in three games if you don't win you can be in sixth position. I think it will be like that. I think we will know more in February.
"December and January are crucial here when we have lots of games in a few days so I think in February there will be a couple of teams at the top and that will be the race."
After winning their opening 10 games of the season, City have won just one of their last five Premier League matches.
City have dominated their last three home games against Everton, Southampton and Middlesbrough but they all finished 1-1 as Pep Guardiola's side wasted opportunities to win comfortably.
"It's especially frustrating when you're playing well," Kolarov admitted. "We've drawn three games at home when we deserved to win all three so it's a little bit frustrating for us but we're strong enough mentally.
"We know that we are playing well and that the game is always in our hands but we have to try and improve and finish the game when we have chances.
"I think if we played all these games again then I am sure we would win them. But this is football and we have to improve because in the end these could be crucial points.
"Still, we are in the middle of November and we can recover these points that we've lost at home. Our first opportunity is Saturday."
City travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday but Kolarov warned it won't be an easy game despite Alan Pardew's side losing their last four Premier League matches.
"They're definitely in a false position at the moment. They didn't start so great but they're improving," added the 31-year-old. "Although it's not great news for us they're growing and it's going to be a very, very tough game.
"They're going to play long balls to find Christian Benteke and we need to avoid all these crosses and long passes as much as possible. We are going there to fight and I hope we are going to win."