LONDON-. He Manchester City seeks to make history. Jürgen Klopp will say goodbye.
The English Premier League will have a dramatic and emotional ending on Sunday. City – seeking an unprecedented fourth consecutive title – and Arsenal will capture the attention in the title race on an afternoon in which goals usually fall and tears are shed.
Most of those tears will be at Anfield, where Klopp will lead his final game in charge of Liverpool.
Klopp will definitely leave. But the continuity of other technicians is uncertain.
There are the strategists of three teams – Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester United – who are seeking to qualify for the European cups. Mauricio Pochettino, Eddie Howe and Erik ten Hag are not sure of continuing the next campaign.
What is virtually certain is that Luton will return to the second division as the third team to be relegated. A strange combination of results is required to achieve permanence and for Nottingham Forest to lose the category. This means that the three teams that were promoted last year – Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton – barely lasted one season in the first division.
But the focus will be on the hard-fought fight for the title, which, although it remains close, has not been as exciting. This is because City – led by Pep Guardiola – has the habit of closing campaigns with long winning streaks.
Their 2-0 win against Tottenham on Tuesday left City two points ahead of Arsenal. They are masters of their destiny. They just need to beat West Ham to confirm their fourth straight title, which has never happened since the league started in 1888.
But City's future is uncertain and a date has already been set – possibly at the end of 2024 – for a sports tribunal to resolve a case after the team owned by an Abu Dhabi fund broke 80 financial rules. of the Premier League and 30 more for refusing to cooperate with the investigation. If found guilty, the team could even be expelled from the first division.
If City does not beat West Ham, Arsenal – which has not won the title since 2004 – could snatch the trophy with a home win against Everton.
If City draw and Arsenal win, the teams would finish equal on 89 points, but the Gunners would be first on goal difference.
But Arsenal fans must remain calm. West Ham, who will also say goodbye to their coach David Moyes, have conceded five goals in their last two away games and City have not lost in 34 games since December 6.
