The Crazy Results Needed To Force A PL Title Play-Off Between Man City And Liverpool FC

Manchester City and Liverpool are separated by just a point with two gameweeks left in the Premier League.

Either side can still win the title, and a play-off game cannot yet be discounted. Asked about the possibility, Jurgen Klopp said: “Wow, I didn’t think about that to be honest. It would be cool but I don’t think it’s too likely.”

The Liverpool manager is right on both counts: it would be a thrilling way to decide the title but there is a reason it has never happened before in competition history and is extremely unlikely to happen this season.

For a winner-take-all match at a neutral venue to be required, the two teams would need to finish with the same points, goals scored and goals conceded.

With two games to go, the only two ways the teams can finish level on points are either City getting three points AND Liverpool getting four, City getting two points AND Liverpool three.

In the first scenario, the defending champions will lose to Leicester or Brighton to record their first league defeat in over three months while Liverpool’s run of seven straight wins will also be ended.

In the second scenario, Pep Guardiola‘s side will draw with both Leicester and Brighton while Liverpool will lose their first league game since January 3 despite winning the other.

Not even the results will be sufficient for a play-off because goals scored and conceded also needed to be identical.

As well as Klopp‘s men getting a point more from their final two games then, they will also have to score six more than City do and concede two more. So Liverpool, with the best defensive record in the league, will have to concede more goals than the Blues while also getting better results and completely outscoring the team with the best attacking record.

Stranger things may have happened, but not in the history of the English football league.

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