Will City or Liverpool be champions? Burnley or Leeds to go down? And surely Spurs won’t lose at Norwich … will they?This season’s final-day title battle will have an air of familiarity as Manchester City look to pip Liverpool to the post for the third time in the last decade. Steven Gerrard will be in the opposition dugout at the stadium where the greatest finale of all played out 10 years ago. Folklore is in the air, but Pep Guardiola might feel frustrated that it has come to this. City could have few complaints with their draw at West Ham, digging in to rescue a vital point after a disastrous first half – but had Riyad Mahrez scored his late...
General-in-reserve never looked like a man losing a football match – as the club continue chase for the quadrupleWell, it was always going that way wasn’t it? At St Mary’s, Jürgen Klopp picked a fever dream of a Liverpool first XI for the penultimate game of the Premier League season, then saw his team fall behind after 13 minutes needing to win to take this pursuit of the sun, the chase for the quadruple, to the final day. And still, somehow, it never really seemed in doubt.This Liverpool team has too much energy to stop now. And while it seems only right to point out the pursuit of the league title is still heavily asterisked, that it isn’t in Liverpool’s...
Crunch time for Manchester City, Liverpool and Spurs, while Watford could be sent downFor the second week in a row, Liverpool can get their work done before sitting back to see how Manchester City fare. The extent of any European bounce or, in City’s case, hangover may be hard to predict but Jürgen Klopp’s men have certainly built up a fearsome head of steam to carry into the final four games. Like Liverpool, Spurs have a rival sitting just above them who, by and large, keep on winning: falling five points behind Arsenal this weekend could prove very costly going into Thursday’s north London derby and it adds to the sense that neither team can really afford anything but victory...
Phil Foden is a valuable set-piece deputy, Mike Jackson’s Clarets keep on moving, plus a defence of the retiring refereesSteven Gerrard prefers to vary his attacking shape to keep opponents guessing and has switched from using a midfield diamond to 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 in his first six months in charge at Aston Villa. The manager was in full agreement that his team looked better once Danny Ings came on as a substitute to join Ollie Watkins as split strikers, with Philippe Coutinho then playing between them, as a false 9 or as the attacking tip of a diamond depending on your interpretation. Both strikers scored in the victory that relegated Norwich and were also instrumental when Villa went on a...
A stress test for John Stones, a big opportunity for Burnley and a chance for Arsenal to bounce backThe slightest flaw could help the other win the supposed title-decider at the Etihad and the absence of Rúben Dias will be a worry for Manchester City. John Stones will almost certainly replace him for Liverpool’s visit. He spent most of Tuesday night in Atlético Madrid’s half as City were not forced to defend against a side who failed to have a single shot at goal. Liverpool will be the polar opposite on Sunday and Stones, alongside Aymeric Laporte, will need to maintain concentration against the most prolific attack in the Premier League, who have seven more goals than City this season....