The small advantage of City at the head of the table and the equality of Mancunians and Liverpulians could force a playoff match to determine the league champion.
One point separates Manchester City and Liverpool at the top of the Premier League standings. Pep Guardiola’s men tied last Sunday at West Ham’s house, the options for the title remain open.
The Celestes seek to conquer their fourth league in five seasons. By his part, those of Jürgen Klopp they have the possibility of conquering all the titles at stake after proclaiming themselves champions of the League Cup and the FA Cup.
The fight for the title is still alive. City and Liverpool star in a race that could need a kind of photo finish to determine the champion of England. The rules of the Premier League determine that if two teams finish level on points, several factors will be used to consecrate a champion. If the light blue and the red match the points at the end of the remaining days, whoever has a better goal difference will lift the cup. And if not, whoever has scored the most goals throughout the course will do so. Or whoever has added the most points in rival clashes, or scored the most goals away from home in them.
Can there be a tiebreaker?
points criterion
Manchester City has one more point at the start of this last day. Guardiola’s men face Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium with 90 points in his locker, while Liverpool take on Wolverhampton with 89 points to his credit. Namely, the tie on points would occur if City lose their match and Liverpool tie theirs.
goal difference
The cityzens enjoy a current goal difference of +72. Liverpool maintains a +66 goal difference. Therefore, so that there would be equality also in this section City should lose by six goals and that Klopp’s men tied, thus maintaining their goal difference at 66 and reducing Pep’s to the same figure.
Highest number of goals scored
The next criterion to tie the tie is the goals scored. Currently the City has 96 goals, while Liverpool has scored 91. Therefore, to tie this aspect, Liverpool’s draw should be at least 5-5 and from there add one more goal for each one scored by Pep Guardiola’s.
direct confrontations
If both teams matched the above criteria, we would move on to direct confrontations. Again, nothing would be found that would make a difference. Neither the points achieved nor the goals away from home. The two league meetings between the two title contenders ended 2-2. Both at Anfield and at the Etihad.
playoff match
It seems complicated, butIf equality is maintained after all the above criteria, a playoff match will be played at a neutral venue to determine the champion. A situation that is almost impossible in view of the different combinations. For something like this to happen, it would have to happen, for example, a defeat for City against Aston Villa by 0-6 and for Liverpool to draw 5-5 at Anfield against Wolverhampton.