England Round 38

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Manchester City vs Aston Villa Preview:

Possible starting lineups:

Manchester City:
Ederson; Cancelo, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko; Silva, Rodri, De Bruyne; Sterling, Jesus, Grealish

Aston Villa:
Martinez; Cash, Chambers, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Luiz, Ramsey; Coutinho; Watkins, Ings

Thirty-seven games played in the Premier League, just one remaining. The 2021-22 season is going to the wire with the title to be decided on the final day. The defending champions Manchester City go into the last round of matches one point ahead of Liverpool. A victory against Aston Villa will guarantee the first place, but a draw could also be enough if Liverpool failed to beat Wolverhampton on Sunday. This year is the 9th time that the championship will be decided on the final day. Liverpool are to finish top if they win against Wolves at Anfield and hope Steven Gerrard’s side can stop Pep Guardiola’s winning machine from grabbing victory. Anyway, it will be a “fascinating day" that doesn’t happen every year. With City at the leading position, the "genuine" Premier League trophy will be at the Etihad on Sunday. However, there will be an "identical presentation team and replica" at Anfield in case Liverpool finished as first.

Manchester City had a difficult moments in the last period. They suffered a painful elimination from Real Madrid in the Champions League. The Arab owners had invested lot of money in the past years and they are not satisfied with the domestic trophies anymore. Of course, that's a huge pressure for Guardiola and his players. Last week they missed a big opportunity to secure the first place as they failed to beat West Ham. Man City conceded twice in the first half, though Mahrez missed a winning penalty in the finish of the match. The reigning champions were not fully satisfied with the result, although they were missing some important defenders. Guardiola now has some positive news with Kyle Walker and John Stones both returning to team training earlier this week. The latter is expected to replace Fernandinho in the heart of the defense if he is fit enough. Ruben Dias remain sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Aston Villa are on the 14th place with 45 points. They have nothing to play for in the last round. Nothing but the pride. Nevertheless, many Liverpool fans hope Steven Gerrard will like to upset the Citizens and to help his former club to win the title. The actual form is nothing special, two draws and one defeat in the last three matches. They narrowly lost to Liverpool, while played identical 1:1 against Crystal Palace and Burnley. What could be a big problem, it is the busy schedule. The Villans played difficult 90 minutes against Burnley on Thursday, while Manchester City last played a week ago. Gerrard has to rotate the players. In addition, defender Ezri Konsa is sidelined with a serious knee injury, while Kortney Hause has abdominal problem. Leon Bailey is rated as doubtful. The former Reds duo Philippe Coutinho and Danny Ings - could provide some hope to the Liverpool fans.

Manchester City vs Aston Villa Prediction:

Manchester City should win the match. They have five victories on the last six league matches and they are huge favorites here. Aston Villa failed to keep a clean sheet in four successive matches and it is hard to believe they could stop the most potent attack in the Premier League. To be worse, Villa have lost each of their last 11 league games played at the Etihad. But there is more - the club accountant will like Manchester City to win the title. The reason is because City will pay Aston Villa a €15m bonus for their striker Jack Grealish if they win the Premier League title. There have been a lot of speculation that Gerrad might favor his former club to win the league but the amount they receive from Man City if they win the league will be profitable for the club. But even without "Bonus factor" I think Manchester City will win high. The quality is on their side, as well as the current form.

Manchester City vs Aston Villa Pick: Manchester City -1.5 AH @ 1.50 with Pinnacle

 

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Liverpool vs Wolverhampton Preview:

Possible starting lineups:

Liverpool:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Konate, Robertson; Keita, Henderson, Thiago; Mane, Jota, Diaz

Wolverhampton:
Sa; Boly, Coady, Toti; Jonny, Neves, Moutinho, Dendoncker, Ait-Nouri; Jimenez, Neto

Liverpool welcome Wolverhampton to Anfield in the last match of the season. The Reds are still chasing an incredible quadruple after winning both domestic cup competitions (FA Cup and League Cup) and facing Real Madrid in UEFA Champions League final next Saturday. But winning the Premier League look like a toughest job. Jurgen Klopp's men are one point adrift of first-placed Manchester City and not everything is in their hands. Liverpool will look to end their season with a win here, but that won’t be a good enough result if the Citizens win their last game against Aston Villa. In that case the title will stay at the Etihad. However, Klopp believes Villa will have enough motivation to stop Manchester City. As I previously wrote, it will be a "fascinating day" that doesn’t happen every year. With City at the leading position, the Premier League trophy will be at the Etihad on Sunday, but there will be an "identical presentation team and replica" at Anfield in case Liverpool finished as first. The Reds are in good form in the last period. After winning the FA Cup last Saturday, they beat Southampton at St Mary's on Tuesday. What is a problem for Klopp, that's the injury situation. Three key players - Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Fabinho are rated as doubtful. They all missed the clash at St Mary's, while Joe Gomez suffered an ankle problem against Southampton. The players that were rested on Tuesday (Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson, Thiago Alcantara, Luis Diaz and Sadio Mane) should be in the team. Divock Origi will play his last match for the Reds as it is confirmed that he will leave the club when his contract expires this summer. By the way, he scored an injury-time winner when Liverpool beat Wolves in December.

Wolverhampton are 8th with 51 points and they will try to keep the position. Seventh-placed West Ham have collect 56 points, so the Wanderers can't go higher. They have nothing to play for, but pride. The series of six matches without a victory spoiled their chances for Europa. Wolves lost to Newcastle, Burnley, Brighton and Manchester City, while shared the points with Chelsea and Norwich City. Their overall form is also poor, losing eight of their past 13 league games, as many defeats as in their opening 24 league fixtures. Suffering another defeat is usually a problem, but not this time. First because it is the end of the season, but there is another reason. Liverpool will have to make a bonus payment to Wolves as part of the Diogo Jota transfer if they win the Premier League title on the final day. The whole deal was worth up to £45million back in 2020, but the Midlands side received just £4m up front. The rest of the fee rely on bonus payments and instalments. The Daily Mail claims that Liverpool have paid a further £13m to Wolverhampton in instalments and another payment will be due if Jota wins his first Premier League title this weekend. For this match Bruno Lage has several injury concerns. Max Kilman (ankle), Nelson Semedo (hamstring) and Romain Saiss (knee) are all sidelined. Daniel Podence and Conor Coady should be part of the squad for this match. According to some sources, Ruben Neves and his midfield partner Joao Moutinho could play their last match for the club.

Liverpool vs Wolverhampton Prediction:

I expect Under 3.5 goals at Anfield. There are two reasons for my pick. The first is connect with the guests. Wolverhampton are team that usually play low scoring matches. Wolves have scored 37 league goals this season, an average of just one goal per game. The second reason is connect with Liverpool. According to my prediction, Manchester City will win the match. The motivation of the Reds will go down when they find out Manchester City are leading. It is hard to play in that situation. Plus, the key striker Mohamed Salah is injured.

Liverpool vs Wolverhampton Pick: Under 3.5 goals @ 1.80 with Pinnacle