West Ham’s dramatic 3-2 win over Manchester United has swung the pendulum back in City’s favour ahead of Sunday’s final round of matches and Blues’ fans will hope there are no final twists!
The Hammers’ victory means that a number of possibilities that existed prior to the final match at Upton Park have now shifted significantly.
Leicester City are champions, of course, but the runners-up spot is still up for grabs.
If Tottenham take a point from their final game against Newcastle United, they will finish runners-up and record their highest finish since 1964.
If Spurs lose and Arsenal beat Aston Villa at the Emirates, the Gunners will take second spot.
City can mathematically still finish in third spot with a victory over Swansea but would need Villa to win their first game in 14 attempts to achieve that seemingly unlikely scenario.
The Blues will instead be focused on avoiding defeat at The Liberty Stadium because a draw will be enough to secure fourth spot and a Champions League berth – something that looked unlikely after last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal.
The in-form Swans, however, represent a tough challenge for Manuel Pellegrini’s final match in charge.
With four successive home victories they have steadily climbed the table and the South Wales side can still finish as high as ninth – above last season’s champions Chelsea.
They have recently beaten Liverpool and Chelsea at home and last weekend’s 4-1 win away to West Ham was arguably their best performance of the campaign.
At home this season, Swansea have won eight, drawn five and lost five of their 18 games, averaging just about one goal scored and one conceded.
City will take encouragement from the fact the last five meetings between the clubs have ended in a victory for the Blues and the Swans have only won this fixture once in 33 years (nine City wins, one draw, one loss).
Manchester United would need to beat Bournemouth at Old Trafford and City to lose to snatch fourth spot on the final day.
West Ham, Southampton and Liverpool can, at the time of writing, all still overtake United into fifth spot should the Reds lose to the Cherries, though inferior goal difference means the Hammers cannot overhaul City unless there was a 15-goal swing between both clubs’ goal differences.
So the target is simple – City need a point to guarantee finishing fourth which in itself means a two-legged play-off round to qualify for the Champions League Group stages.
