Man City hurdle Everton challenge to move ahead of Liverpool in title race

Liverpool’s title hopes were dealt a blow on Saturday afternoon as Manchester City beat Everton 3-2 at Goodison Park to go top of the Premier League.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, May 3, 2014: Everton's James McCarthy in action against Manchester City's Sergio Aguero during the Premiership match at Goodison Park. (Pic by Chris Brunskill/Propaganda)
Everton‘s James McCarthy in action against Manchester City‘s Sergio Aguero during the Premiership match at Goodison Park. (Pic by Chris Brunskill/Propaganda)

The result means Man City and Liverpool both have 80 points after playing the same amount of games, but City’s goal difference is 9 superior than that of Liverpool’s.

In a strange twist to the title race, Liverpool fans looked to local rivals Everton for a helping hand in their title aspirations, needing Man City to drop points to realistically take destiny back into their own hands.

Ross Barkley gave Everton an early lead, but City hit back to take a 3-1 lead shortly into the second-half.

Romelu Lukaku’s 65th minute header gave the Toffees a glimmer of hope, but the game faded out towards the end and Manuel Pellegrini’s men held out for the key victory.

However, all is not lost for Liverpool and Pellegrini admitted after watching his side win on Merseyside on Saturday that the title race is far from over.

“The worst thing we could do is believe that today we won the Premier League title,” he is quoted in The Guardian as saying.

“We still have two games to play against teams with nothing to fight for, who can come to our stadium and play without pressure.”

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Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool next face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Monday night. A point will put the Reds top again but with Man City facing Aston Villa on Wednesday night, a win is all but necessary.

Should Liverpool win on Monday and Man City on Wednesday, the title race will go down to the last day of the season — Sunday, 11th May, where Liverpool host Newcastle Utd and Man City host West Ham.

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