Derby Day in the North-West

Can Manchester City bounce back from their Anfield nightmare to clinch the title?

It’s derby day in the North-West on Saturday, with Manchester City aiming to clinch the Premier League title against rivals’ United at the Etihad, while Liverpool make the short trip to Goodison Park to take on neighbours’ Everton.

Neither fixture is too easy to read though after Wednesday’s extraordinary events at Anfield, where the Reds secured a 3 goal lead over City in the 1st leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.

This is reflected in our GW33 goal projections and Fantasy Premier League managers may well be inclined to give both fixtures a wide berth.

EPL Goals - GW33

Things are complicated even further by the fact that Mo Salah limped out of the Anfield showdown in the 2nd half. Although his groin injury does not appear to be too serious, it does mean that his participation in the Merseyside derby is far from certain and it seems unlikley that Jürgen Klopp will take any chances with his star man ahead of next week’s 2nd leg at the Etihad.

This could open the door for Harry Kane to get back in the hunt for a 3rd successive Golden Boot.

The Spurs’ striker trails the Egyptian international by 5 goals but he does have a game in hand and if Salah fails to feature against the Toffees, he will have an additional game to reel in the deficit.

If Liverpool progress past City, Salah may also have his game minutes managed either side of the Champions League semi-final ties that are scheduled to take place later this month as well.

It therefore comes as no surprise to see the fit-again England forward back on top of our Armband rankings for GW33.

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Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is sure to have his backers though, with the Gunners hosting a struggling Southampton side at the Emirates on Sunday and the Gabon international will be looking to build on the brace he scored against Stoke City in GW32.

Chelsea are another side with an attractive looking fixture on paper as well, a home game with West Ham United.

However, the Blues are now 8 points adrift of Spurs after losing to their London rivals in GW32, so motivation may be a problem for a few of their star players as they start to think about this summer’s World Cup. That shouldn’t be a problem for Álvaro Morata though, since he needs a strong finish to the season to ensure that he makes the cut for Spain.

That’s the GW33 lowdown – will City clinch the title at the Etihad?