Liverpool’s extraordinary 3-3 draw at Crystal Palace means that Manchester City can close to within touching distance of the Premier League title by beating Aston Villa on Wednesday.
With the top two neck-and-neck on 80 points and with two games to play each, City were braced for a repeat of the 2012 campaign, when they pipped Manchester United to the title on goal difference on the final day.
However, Liverpool’s late capitulation at Selhurst Park on Monday, when they let a 3-0 lead slip in the last 11 minutes, means that City now effectively need only four points to regain the title.
Both their last matches are at home, with West Ham United following Villa to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, and with a goal difference of plus-59 to Liverpool’s plus-50, they can afford to drop two points and still finish on top.
City midfielder Samir Nasri was unable to contain his delight at Liverpool’s slip-up, tweeting shortly after the game: “What a game, what a league. I love Crystal Palace so much. Now our turn to do the job.”
While both Villa and West Ham have nothing to play for this season, Yaya Toure has warned his City team-mates not to take them lightly.
“Both Aston Villa and West Ham are sharp and will come to just enjoy the games, but we have a league to play for,” said the Ivorian midfielder.
“I hope we complete the job, but it depends how sharp we are, how we prepare mentally and physically.
“Our target was always to win something, but for us the League Cup is not enough. The Premier League was always our target, so now we need to be at our optimum levels when Aston Villa come to our stadium on Wednesday.”
He added: “We definitely expect to win it. As a team at the top, you always expect to win.
“We have worked so hard this year and, if we don’t win, it would be a massive disappointment for us, for the fans and for the club as well.”
Toure has declared himself fit after being substituted during the second half of Saturday’s 3-2 win at Everton.
City also hope that Sergio Aguero will be able to lead the line against Villa despite having gone off due to a groin complaint in the first half of Saturday’s game.
The Argentine left the fray in the 28th minute at Goodison Park, but he subsequently took to Twitter to reveal that his substitution had merely been “a precaution”.
Villa also have concerns over the fitness of a key forward, after Gabriel Agbonlahor was forced off during the 3-1 defeat of Hull City on Saturday with a knee problem.
Norwich City’s 0-0 draw at Chelsea on Sunday means that Villa are now safe from relegation, but the club continue to be dogged by uncertainty over the future of manager Paul Lambert.
Villa’s American owner Randy Lerner is due to make an announcement on his own position at the club shortly and Lambert says that his fate could be closely tied to Lerner’s.
Asked if he would be staying at Villa Park, Lambert replied: “I hope so. That is what I want to do, but you’ll know when the chairman says what he is going to do.
“The next step is for the chairman to come out and say. We had to get over the line and then the chairman will come out and say what he will.
“You would love to do it. It is a brilliant club to drive on. That’s why I said the most important thing for this club was to stay in this league.”
Villa won this season’s reverse fixture in September 3-2 thanks to a 75th-minute goal by Andreas Weimann, but they have not won at the Etihad in the league since a 2-0 success in April 2007.
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21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
Sukuk
An Islamic bond structured in a way to generate returns without violating Sharia strictures on prohibition of interest.
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
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The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories From the North
Edited and Introduced by Sjón and Ted Hodgkinson
Pushkin Press
The biog
From: Ras Al Khaimah
Age: 50
Profession: Electronic engineer, worked with Etisalat for the past 20 years
Hobbies: 'Anything that involves exploration, hunting, fishing, mountaineering, the sea, hiking, scuba diving, and adventure sports'
Favourite quote: 'Life is so simple, enjoy it'
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
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