After their defeat at home to Tottenham on Saturday, Groves is convinced the aura around City and manager Pep Guardiola has gone.
He told talkSPORT: "I think there's a big issue. Football's cyclical, right?
"This is the end of Man City's cycle, I know their average age was 24 (on Saturday). If you look at the team they put out, there's no aura about that team.
"There's no presence or stature, if you look at the treble-winning side, when you had Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Rodri, (Riyad) Mahrez as well, they're all players that imposed themselves on the game.
"I'm looking at this Man City side, and I know they're in transition, they haven't got that aura anymore.
"And you know you're in trouble when your away team has more shots than you.
"That very rarely happens at the Etihad, normally, when they're in their pomp, Man City, you'd go to Etihad and knew you had to take maybe one or two of your chances to stand a game on the breakaway.
"That's not happening anymore, so I think the teams that go into Etihad now actually fancy their chances because they know that this isn't the Man City team of old.
"So, I said before, I don't think Man City are in the race for the title because of the age of their team."