Manchester City and Liverpool play on the same day for the first time since February with the country split down the middle on who will be Premier League champions.
Mail on Sunday columnists Jermaine Jenas and Danny Murphy discuss the most exciting Premier League title race in years.
Jermaine Jenas and Danny Murphy discuss the most exciting Premier League title race in years
JERMAINE JENAS: Manchester City kick off first at Palace, I don’t know what you think Murph but I’d rather do that than have to wait like Liverpool. It’s always best to set the tone, put the pressure on at this stage of the season. City win and they are top by the time Liverpool start against Chelsea at 4.30.
DANNY MURPHY: I’d normally agree with you but on this occasion I don’t think Liverpool will mind playing later. Their players and fans will expect a City win, so if it happens, it won’t be deflating. But imagine if Palace nick a point or win to put the title back in Liverpool’s hands. The atmosphere at Anfield would be buzzing, it’d give everyone a massive lift.
JENAS: One thing is for sure, the Liverpool players aren’t going to get away from knowing the City score even if they are focused on their own preparations. In this day and age, everyone will be telling each other what’s happening, including the stewards.
MURPHY: I had some managers like Roy Hodgson at Fulham who didn’t mind us watching early games on TV in the treatment area. From memory, others like Gerard Houllier didn’t like it, particularly if the game on the box was relevant to us. He saw it as a distraction.
(L-R) Mohamed Salah and Dejan Lovren share a joke during Liverpool training on Thursday
JENAS: I wonder if Liverpool will be lifted by City’s performance at Spurs on Tuesday night. They looked a bit dull, and it was the same in the FA Cup against Brighton last weekend. Something didn’t seem right. The million-dollar question is whether they are feeling the physical demands of four competitions or if Pep Guardiola has deliberately told them to conserve energy because of the fixtures coming up. If they play the same way against Palace this afternoon, they’ll be in trouble.
MURPHY: City don’t lose many so when they do, there are always questions. If they’d gone for it at Spurs and lost, people would have criticised Pep for not learning from the Champions League against Liverpool last season. The only thing I was surprised at was bringing on Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sane in the last minute. That was a bit bizarre. No player can be expected to affect a game if they come on after 89 minutes. I don’t judge the Brighton game. Why would City run around like lunatics? If Brighton had equalised, I think City would have gone through the gears to score a second.
JENAS: It’s ironic we are thinking like that because ultimately I think City will win the league and you are going for Liverpool. It shows how close it is between them. You can make arguments on both sides of the fence. Palace will not be easy for City today. They won at the Etihad in December and drew at Selhurst Park last season when Ederson had to save a late penalty from Luka Milivojevic to keep it 0-0. By City’s very high standards, that makes Palace their bogey team!
Raheem Sterling was among the Manchester City players hard at work on Friday
MURPHY: I don’t think the previous Palace games will bother City too much but they will give Roy Hodgson’s team greater belief. If you get a hiding against a big club, you go into the next one thinking ‘here we go again’. Pep may even use the 3-2 defeat to his advantage, to warn about complacency. They won’t let Andros Townsend shoot again from distance. Can we get on to the big game now, Liverpool v Chelsea! You have to be impressed by the variation in Liverpool’s play, they’ve learned to sit back and protect. I remember Shaqiri being taken off at half-time against Southampton with the game won at 3-0. They have that option because Jurgen Klopp has players who are good at soaking up pressure.
JENAS: Let’s agree to disagree! I don’t think shutting up shop suits Liverpool, even now. They got away
