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English Premier League: City hopeful of Liverpool slip up

Club plays Sunderland at home today; looks to keep title chase alive.

Afp April 15, 2014

Liverpool’s 3-2 victory at Anfield on Sunday allowed the Reds to stay clear at the top of the table and extend their advantage over third-placed City to seven points. PHOTO: AFP

MANCHESTER: Manchester City know they must keep themselves in a position to pounce if Premier League title favourites Liverpool slip up when they play the first of their two games in hand against bottom club Sunderland on Wednesday night.

Liverpool’s 3-2 victory at Anfield on Sunday allowed the Reds to stay clear at the top of the table and extend their advantage over third-placed City to seven points.

That will be an unbridgeable gap if Liverpool win their remaining four games to lift their first top-flight championship since 1990.

But Brendan Rodgers’s side still have to face title rivals Chelsea, giving a glimmer of hope to City who would finish top if Liverpool fail to win just one of their games and City take a maximum 18 points.

Four of City’s remaining fixtures are at home, starting against a Sunderland side which has failed to win in their last nine games and who were beaten by City in the final of the League Cup at the start of March.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini has vowed to fight to the end and defender Martin Demichelis believes City still have time to overhaul Liverpool after pushing the leaders all the way in Sunday’s epic encounter on Merseyside.

“We showed real fight until the end,” said Demichelis. “No-one left the stadium feeling like they were champions. We have plenty of matches left.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t get a more positive result but we can still bring something positive before the end of the league.

“We have seen in football that they can make mistakes. Hopefully we can win the rest of our matches and expect some mistakes from Liverpool.”

Meanwhile, the City manager also revealed that they would be without influential midfielder Yaya Toure for around two weeks due to a leg muscle injury.

Liverpool falls silent for Hillsborough dead

Liverpool came to a standstill on Tuesday to mark the 25th anniversary of the day 96 football fans who were crushed to death in the Hillsborough stadium disaster.

Bells were tolled 96 times at the exact time that Liverpool’s fateful FA Cup semi-final match against Nottingham Forest in Sheffield was abandoned in 1989.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2014.

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