After Liverpool’s gritty win at Southampton on Friday, the title race is set to go down to the wire.
Both Manchester City and Liverpool have racked up an incredible number of points and wins already, and it is quite likely that whoever is going to win the title will need to win all of their remaining games.
We are witnessing one of the great title races in Premier League history.
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Heading into the final few weeks of the season, does anybody have the edge? In terms of fixtures and points, Man City know that if they win their game in-hand (at bitter rivals Manchester United), they will go one point clear of Liverpool, plus Pep Guardiola’s men have a seven-goal advantage on goal difference as things stand.
Liverpool have five games left and City have six, and with City still in the FA Cup they will have to rotate their squad a little more than Liverpool in the coming days. Both Liverpool and City are in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals, so that comes into play too, as the rotation for Liverpool against Porto and City against Spurs will go a long way to deciding the title rave. Ideally, both teams will want big wins in the first legs so they can put their focus back on the title race and the finals games of the PL season.
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Still to come in those games, City have to face Man United and Tottenham, while Liverpool’s biggest test remaining is against Chelsea. Aside from that, the rest of their games are against teams from outside the top six, so it’s pretty even but Liverpool have a slight advantage in only having one “elite” team to play.
But in terms of the timing of some of the games in the run-in, it would appear City have been handed a slight edge by those scheduling the games. For their next three games they play before Liverpool, with the only real chance Liverpool have to put the pressure on City coming on Apr. 26 as they face Huddersfield and City play two days later against Burnley.
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Liverpool also have three of their final five games at home, as Anfield has become a fortress with Klopp’s men currently on the second-longest unbeaten home run in PL history which is 37 games. City have two at home and four away. So Liverpool have a slight advantage when it comes to having their home crowd roar them on in the run-in.
All in all, the margins are going to be so small in the title race this season as goal difference or a single point is very likely to decide where the PL trophy will go.
Below are the remaining schedules for both teams. This is what stands between them and glory.
Liverpool
April 14: Chelsea (H)
April 21: Cardiff City (A)
April 26: Huddersfield (H)
May 5: Newcastle (A)
May 12: Wolves (H)
Man City
April 14: Crystal Palace (A)
April 20: Tottenham (H)
April 24: Man United (A)
April 28: Burnley (A)
May 4: Leicester (H)
May 12: Brighton (A)