‘Only time will tell’ – Paul Merson offers his predictions for the final day of the season and discusses whether Liverpool or Manchester City will be lifting the title | OneFootball

Paul Merson has explained that he expects Liverpool to earn all three points against Wolves at Anfield on Sunday meaning league leaders Manchester City must beat Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa to ensure the Premier League title doesn’t return to Merseyside.

The Reds earned a vital victory over Southampton on Tuesday night to ensure the title race goes down to the wire and Merson has explained that the current set of events are beginning to sound ‘like a bit of fairytale’.

“You don’t come this far in a Premier League title race only to falter at the final hurdle, so I think Liverpool will win this one comfortably. I was shocked with the number of changes they made against Southampton, but the players Jurgen Klopp put out gave it everything they had to get all three points,” Merson told Sportskeeda (via the Metro).

“Manchester City should have beaten West Ham last week but ended up dropping two valuable points, enhancing Liverpool’s hopes of winning the title on the final day of the season. The narrative that is building up sounds like a bit of a fairytale, as Pep Guardiola and co prepare to take on Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa on Sunday.

“The former Liverpool captain never won the Premier League with his boyhood club, but could he do them a massive favor and take points off Manchester City? Regardless of what happens in that game, Liverpool have to do what’s in their control, which is to beat Wolves and I think they will do that. Bruno Lage’s side have fizzled out in recent weeks, so I don’t see this one being too much of an issue for the Reds.”

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Despite the pressure being on Pep Guardiola’s side this weekend, Merson admitted he can’t see the Sky Blues dropping points to the Villans and believes they’ll ‘get the job done’.

He did however highlight the attacking threat that the Villa Park outfit will pose through Ollie Watkins and ex-Liverpool duo Danny Ings and Philippe Coutinho.

“I’ve been involved with the beautiful game for far too long to think of this as a foregone conclusion, but I genuinely don’t think Villa will have enough to beat Manchester City. Guardiola and his players shouldn’t have taken it until the last day, but they are still in control of their own destiny and should get the job done,” Merson added.

“That said, Manchester City have been guilty of leaving themselves open at the back in recent weeks. Villa have the likes of Ollie Watkins, Danny Ings and Philippe Coutinho, who are all dangerous players in their own right. City will have to bide their time and stay patient, like they did against Leicester City in 2019 when Vincent Kompany scored a worldie of a goal to effectively win the title for his team.

“This has been an incredible season and in football, you never quite know what’s going to happen. Do we have more twists and turns in store as yet another Premier League season draws to a dramatic climax? Only time will tell.”

The ex-Arsenal man has predicted Jurgen Klopp’s side to defeat Wolves 3-0 whilst backing City to win the title by beating Villa 2-0.

No matter what happens on Sunday, the Reds can be proud of their season – we were 16 points behind City earlier this season and had no right to take the title race to the last day.

Next weekend we have our Champions League final clash with Real Madrid so it’s important to pick up three points at Anfield on Sunday and head into the clash with the La Liga giants in good spirits.

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