Hoping to secure its second Barclays Premier League championship in three seasons, Manchester City will look to solidify a crown with a victory over English League rival West Ham United Sunday morning at Etihad Stadium. City owns a one-point advantage over Liverpool atop the BPL table but a victory and most likely a draw – since the club holds a significant goal differential over The Reds – would wrap up another league championship. Though the aforementioned draw would more than likely hand his side the trophy, Man City boss Manuel Pellegrini says he won't be aiming for his club to tie West Ham, especially since the team already upended the squad in a previous high pressure contest this season.
“We beat them here in the Capital One Cup,” he said of City's 6-0 victory back in January. “It was a very good game and I hope we can repeat it, but the best way to do it is to play in the same way. We did it especially against Aston Villa. I think that was one of the best games we played the whole year. I think it's been very important to have a good squad from the beginning of the season. More than a team, a squad. I think all the players are involved.”
While City has high hopes of upending West Ham for the title, Liverpool and boss Brendan Rodgers – who will square off with Newcastle on Championship Sunday – are fully confident that anything can happen on the final day of the season. Completely aware that a recent opportunity to move higher up in the standings against Crystal Palace escaped them, the Reds' head coach maintains belief that his club is focused on the task at hand at that a victory could very well cap off a magical campaign.
“It’s certainly not over,” Rodgers said. “First and foremost, we can only concentrate on our job, our job is to win the game. I think [Newcastle boss] Alan Pardew will come and he’ll want to finish this season strong. We know that it’s a tough game. But the combination of us at home and our supporters has been fantastic for us. To look to get 16 wins out of 19 come the weekend would pencil in a great return for us at home. Our focus is on ourselves, if we do our job then I’ll be happy.”
Manchester City vs. West Ham United: DATE, TIME & VIEWING INFO
DATE: Sunday, May 11
TIME: 10:00am, ET
TV COVERAGE: NBC
LIVE STREAM: CLICK HERE
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