The ex-Chelsea and Reds attacker is not ruling out the Citizens from clawing back an 11 point gap to Liverpool.
However, Sturridge thinks that City boss Pep Guardiola must be given money to spend in January.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “I think they do need a defensive midfielder, a defensive-minded midfielder.
“When you look at who they have now, you've got (Matheus) Nunes, you've got Kovacic, you've got (Ilkay) Gundogan, the list goes on. The majority of those players are attacking minded or control players.
“They certainly won't be in the title race, in my opinion, if they don't sign a defensive midfielder, because you can see it in chances (they have been conceding) against teams that wouldn't typically get chances.”
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