West Ham United host Liverpool on Monday night in the last game of matchday 25, and the London Stadium outfit will be looking to bounce back following three defeats in a row.
The Hammers were dumped out of the F.A Cup at the hands of AFC Wimbledon either side of league losses to Bournemouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini will be hoping his side can arrest the poor run against Liverpool, but he reckons they are favourites to beat defending champions Manchester City to the title race.
The Reds are already out of the F.A Cup and EFL Cup, while City are still in both competitions, and the West Ham boss believes that could work in Liverpool’s favour.
“They are five points clear and they are not in either of the cups. They have everything in their favour,” Pellegrini told Sportsmail when asked if Liverpool were title favourites.
“When Manchester City won the league (with Pellegrini in charge, pipping Liverpool), they had more games to play. The credit belonged to City that season, they didn’t win it because Steven Gerrard slipped!”
Liverpool missed out of the league title in the 2013-14 to Manchester City by only two points.
The Anfield outfit look poised to win their first ever English Premier League title two weeks to the end of the campaign, but a loss and a draw in two of their last three matches, combined with City winning their own final five league matches, meant they ended up as runners-up.
The season is infamously remembered for the slip of former Liverpool captain Gerrard against Chelsea on matchday 36.
Former Blues striker Demba Ba was allowed through on goal as a result, opening the scoring. Willian doubled Chelsea’s lead in the 2-0 win to end Liverpool’s title hopes.
Meanwhile, City secured a 2-0 win over West Ham in their final game of the season to become champions, and they will hope the Reds can slip up again this season to hand them another title.
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