All eyes will be on the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon as Manchester City look to clinch the league title against rivals Manchester United.
Pep Guardiola’s side have been champions in all but writing for some time having steamrollered their way through the campaign with their only league defeat coming against Liverpool in January.
They also lost to Jurgen Klopp’s side in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday evening and it remains to be seen whether Guardiola will rest players for Tuesday’s second leg or go all guns blazing in order to wrap things up against their neighbors.
Race for second
A win for the Red Devils would merely delay the inevitable in terms of the championship though it would tighten their grip on second place, though they could be in third by the time their game kicks off with Liverpool facing Everton at Goodison Park in the day’s early kick-off.
Despite holding a three goal advantage in the tie, Jurgen Klopp is unlikely to believe the tie is over so himself could be tempted to rotate his squad and the Toffees will be keen to take advantage if so as they cling on to their fading hopes of finishing in the top seven.
After securing an impressive win at Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur travel to relegation threatened Stoke City looking for another three points as they look to clinch a top four finish while the soon to be dethroned champions host West Ham United on Sunday evening knowing that they can hardly afford any more slip ups if they are to be dining at Europe’s top table next season.
Minds elsewhere
Arsenal’s only hopes of qualifying for the Champions League depend completely on whether they can win the Europa League and they did their chances of doing just that no harm with a 4-1 win over CSKA Moscow in the first leg of their quarter final tie.
With a sixth placed finish in the league looking extremely likely, they host a Southampton side who are desperate for a positive result after winning just one of their last eighteen league games.
Mark Hughes’ first league game in charge of the Saints ended in a 3-0 defeat to fellow strugglers West Ham and they can now be backed at a price of 11/10 to be relegated.
Battle at the bottom
Crystal Palace and Huddersfield Town are only just above the dotted line and face tricky trips to Bournemouth and Brighton and Hove Albion respectively while Swansea City – who themselves are just three points clear of the bottom three travel to managerless West Bromwich Albion.
Elsewhere, Leicester City welcome Newcastle United to the King Power Stadium while Burnley take on Waford at Vicarage Road with Sean Dyche’s men still in pole position to finish top of what has been deemed the ‘best of the rest’ section of the table.
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