Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City  Photo: AFP

With Liverpool set to take over as English Premier League champions, Manchester City should ­prioritise Europe and can still have a "great season" if they win the European Champions League (ECL), former England striker Ian Wright has said.

City's 2-0 loss at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday was their sixth league defeat of the season, two more than in the whole of the previous campaign, and left them 22 points behind Liverpool, who are set to end a 30-year wait for a league title.

But Wright said City, who meet Real Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League this month, can still salvage their season.

"You feel if they don't win the Champions League then it's not a good season. But if they do win it, it's a great season," Wright told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"I would start saving players for it because that's what City have got to start focusing on."

Pep Guardiola, who won two Champions League titles at Barcelona, has not managed to take City beyond the quarter­finals of the competition.

"With the team he assembled, we thought it would happen in his tenure," Wright added.

"He's three years in with a team that has played at a really high intensity and City have not been able to stay up with a Liverpool side that have kicked on."

City return to league action on Sunday against 18th-placed West Ham United.