The showdown between the top two teams in the Premier League (when accounting for games in hand) will ultimately decide where the Premier League title ends up. This season has had plenty of twists and turns, with Arsenal starting well, United failing to impress and Chelsea losing out after poor recent performances whilst also going on a European adventure. City have remained steady under Pellegrini and Liverpool have gone on a superb nine-game unbeaten run to propel them to the top of the tree with just five games to go.
The Title will be decided much earlier though, when the two main competitors face each other at Anfield on Sunday. Whoever wins this crucial game will surely be crowned champions come May. Each teams remaining fixtures seem fairly predictable, apart from a tough away day at Champions League chasers Everton for Pellegrini's men and a tricky home game against Chelsea for the Reds. However, once Sunday's game is over the winners will have immense belief, and will be hard to stop knowing that they are so close to winning the title.
The reverse fixture on Boxing Day ended 2-1 to City in a tight game which was affected by poor refereeing decisions. While naysayers of Liverpool's title chances will say the result shows City's supremacy they should note that the previous two fixtures ended 2-2, in a season Liverpool finished in 7th and City 2nd. Liverpool have clearly been knocking at the door of beating city for some time, so why not this Sunday? It's true that City are the most likely candidates to end Liverpool's unbeaten run but it is also hard to see them winning at Anfield this week as Liverpool have only lost one match there this term. Brendan Rodgers has constantly praised the support of the Anfield crowd and has recreated the fortress of the 1970's and 80's, Anfield is a place nobody has enjoyed visiting this season. City's away form has also been one of their few faults this season, dropping 20 points on the road; with defeats to the likes of lowly Cardiff. Both teams have good squads with world class players. Both have free scoring front lines, with three city players scoring more than 20 goals and Liverpool's SAS partnership being a phenomenal strike force; supported capably by Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho.
Whoever wins on Sunday, we should hopefully see a brilliant display of attacking football from both teams with no holds barred as City and Liverpool go all out for the title.
Source: DSG
