Will there be a ‘third time’s the charm’ for Liverpool over Man City?

Liverpool and Man City are once again in the battle for the Premier League title with only one game left

With one game to go, Manchester City tops the Premier League with 90 points, a result of 28 wins, six ties and three losses. Liverpool is one point behind the Citizens with 89 points from 27 wins, eight ties and only two losses.

This is the third time in the past decade that both Manchester City and Liverpool have the chance to win the English title in the last weekend of the season. In the previous two times, the Citizens lifted the trophy while Liverpool settled for second place. This time, the Reds want to reverse things and lift the trophy themselves.

For the 2021/22 season finale, the Reds will host Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield on Sunday with the hope for a miracle. Curiously enough, Liverpool will try to avoid a repeat of 2019, when they beat Wolves on the last day but were still pipped to the title by City.

Thankfully for Liverpool, they haven’t lost to Wolverhampton in the league since 2010. In fact, they have won the past 10games games, scoring 21 goals and conceding only two. With history by their side, they only need a favorable result in the other deciding game.

Manchester City must win against Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium to ensure the trophy. A tie or a loss will leave the door open for the Reds to win the title. In a funny turn of events, Manchester City will have to face a historic Liverpool player in Aston Villa’s head coach, Steven Gerard, in order to defeat the Reds once more.

Gerard’s squad has been on a roll for the past couple of games, losing just once in the past month (versus Liverpool). A tie will probably give the Reds the title and even if Gerrard won’t admit it, he would like nothing more than to deny the Citizens the championship.

Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, the title race has gone down to the final day of the season eight times. Manchester City has been on the winning side three times, the last two over Liverpool.

2013/14

Manuel Pellegrini’s squad led the Reds by two points going into “Judgement Day.”

In that season finale, Liverpool faced an early 0-1 deficit with a Martin Škrtel own goal. However, they came back in the second half with goals from Daniel Agger and Daniel Sturridge (two assists form Gerrard) to win the game, and waited for the final whistle in Manchester.

The Reds did everything necessary to win the championship but it didn’t matter in the end as the Citizens held their nerve to beat West Ham 2-0 at the Etihad with goals form Samir Nasri and captain Vincent Kompany.

This was Manchester City’s fourth Premier League title and second in the last two years.

2018/19

This time the title race was even closer as Manchester City, now with Pep Guardiola in charge, led the standings by one point over Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

As said above, Liverpool faced the same rival they’re gonna face this season, Wolverhampton. The Reds won a “easy” game with two Sadio Mane’s goals. Again they did everything necessary to win, but Manchester City didn’t bend.

The Sky Blues faced Brighton & Hove Albion, a team that barely escaped relegation by two points. In a surprise, Manchester City were 1-0 down in the 27th minute. But one minute later, Sergio Agüero tied the match, and by the 72nd minute, Aymeric Laporte, Ryhad Mahrez and Ilkay Gündoğan had made it 1-4, giving Manchester City their sixth Premier League title.

For the third time, both teams are facing a season finale that will put us all at the edge of our seats. Everything is pointing towards a City title, but we have seen miracles happen in the Premier League before. Perhaps something like the 2011/12 season can happen where Manchester City won the title on goal difference over Manchester United with the now famous “A-G-U-E-R-O-O-O-O-O!” moment.

In case Liverpool can’t pull of the miracle, they still have the ‘consolation’ price of playing the UEFA Champions League final against Real Madrid. They might not win the domestic title but they can win the biggest club tournament in the world.