Manchester City hold the advantage in the Premier League title race after their 5-0 demolition of Newcastle United on Sunday.
The victory came 24 hours after Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw by a resilient Tottenham at Anfield, allowing the champions to open up a three-point gap on the Merseysiders.
Although there are now just three games to go, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher has predicted that there’ll be more twists in the title race yet and he expects Man City to “drop points” across their next two matches.
Ahead of Sunday’s clash, the former Liverpool defender said, "I don't think today (Newcastle) is going to be a problem for Man City, but I look at the away games at Wolves and West Ham in their next week and I do think City will drop points in one of those games."
The first of those two clashes comes away to Wolves on Wednesday night and does look like a tricky test on paper for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Bruno Lage’s men kept their faint European hopes alive on Saturday with an impressive come-from-behind 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge and will now need to follow that up with another positive result if they’re to have any chance of catching West Ham in seventh.
They’ve already proven to be a tough nut to crack for City this season and the reverse in December finished 1-0 courtesy of a Raheem Sterling penalty. That slender victory came despite the hosts boasting a one-man advantage for the entirety of the second half.
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City’s struggles in breaking down Lage’s men shouldn’t come as a surprise given the defensive efficiency they have illustrated throughout this season. Like Nuno Espirito Santo before him, Lage will usually line Wolves up in variations of back-three formations, with a big focus on restricting space for opponents to play into within their defensive half.
The potency of the same is captured by the fact only the league’s top three have shipped fewer goals than Wolves this season (34), and they’ve conceded more than a single Premier League goal on only six occasions.
Although City’s brilliance means they overcome most challenges they face on a weekly basis - they are currently unbeaten in their last 16 away Premier League games (W13, D3) which is a club record – Wolves’ style has at times been their kryptonite. City’s 3-1 victory in this fixture last season was Guardiola’s first across his three career trips to Molineux (D1, L1).
It wasn't just Wolves but also West Ham that Carragher tipped to be potentially problematic for City, and easy to understand why he did.
Moyes’ men are simultaneously trying to catch faltering Manchester United in sixth while holding off Wolves in seventh, meaning they’ll be desperate to take points from Guardiola’s side, and it’s fair to say that the Hammers boss has done a good job of making the London Stadium an unhappy hunting ground for the champions recently.
The last two clashes between the two there finished level, 1-1 last season and then 0-0 back in October’s Carabao Cup meeting, it was actually West Ham who went on to win the tie via penalties.
Another draw would be enough for Liverpool to close the gap to City, or perhaps even leapfrog them, depending on what happens at Molineux four days earlier. Victories in both would all but hand City the title, while anything less will open the door for Liverpool, meaning no matter which way this week goes, it’s certain to be a decisive one in the title race.
