Phil Foden says Manchester City's Premier League title challenge is over after they threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Tuesday.
Foden was on hand to net a second-half brace to put his side in the ascendancy before goals from Yoane Wissa and Christian Norgaard in the final eight minutes salvaged a late point for Thomas Frank's men.
Sixth-placed City, having won four consecutive league titles, sit 12 points off leaders Liverpool and Foden is now concentrating on making the top four.
"The title? Yeah, yeah, it's done for sure, it's done," England international Foden told reporters.
"We know. We're not stupid. So we've got to aim for top four, that's the next target now and then obviously Champions League as well. So it's not as if the season has gone.
"But we've got to be realistic, haven't we? The performances have not been good enough to get up there.
"The top four is our aim now and then see where we can be in the other trophies. We can't dwell on it. We've got to try and aim for the top four now and make things right."
The late draw saw City fail to build on back-to-back wins, leaving them two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea who drew with Bournemouth.
Foden knows City need to learn from their slump in form.
"Like you said, I've not been in this situation before where I've lost this many games and been in this situation," he added.
"So it's a learning curve and it's just about how you get back to your best, not just me, but the team as well. And how we come back from this."
Meanwhile, Foden's manager Pep Guardiola says he needs to think about the reasons why his side are prone to throwing away leads.
The Brentford draw adds to a string of similar collapses for Guardiola's men this season, including their derby defeat to Manchester United where two late goals from a winning position saw them lose at home to Ruben Amorim’s men last month.
"I have to think about it," Guardiola said when asked why City are dropping points from winning positions.
"We have the situation we have, I think it’s a little different to games like the United game but it’s true and I need to think about it.
"We were close and we had chances, we didn’t take the right decisions. At the end they put a lot in the box and he (Norgaard) was there."
The Dane was unmarked in added time and managed to power his header past Stefan Ortega, who palmed the effort into the net.
Guardiola said that his side being inferior to Brentford from a physical point of view was a factor in them conceding the late goal.
He explained: "Between 2-1 and 2-2 it was good, we controlled but after that they put players in the box, they are stronger than us in that department and they equalised.
"They put six or seven in the box for crosses and (in that area) they are better. They are taller, they are stronger with the head.
"Of course we were tired but we couldn’t close the cross, our holding midfielders don’t have the skills to defend these type of balls because we have other types of players right now and we couldn’t defend that situation."
Brentford’s fightback against the champions comes after their disappointing FA Cup exit to Championship strugglers Plymouth on Saturday.
"The whole performance – i’m extremely happy with that," Bees boss Thomas Frank said.
"We went toe-for-toe with one of the best teams in the world who can produce unbelievable pieces of brilliance.
"It was a well-deserved point. We lacked cutting edge before the goal but we showed that in the last 10, where we showed a fantastic mentality."
