Manchester City is bidding to make history. Jurgen Klopp is bidding farewell.
The English Premier League is heading toward a dramatic and emotional finale on Sunday, with the title race between Man City – seeking an unprecedented fourth straight top-flight championship – and Arsenal going to the wire and taking center stage on an afternoon when goals and tears usually flow.
Many of those tears will likely come at Anfield where Klopp, the eccentric German who has bestrode the league for nearly nine years with his heavy-metal football and big grin, takes charge of his last game at Liverpool.
Klopp is definitely leaving. For other managers, the future is more uncertain.
Take those leading the three teams – Chelsea, Newcastle, Manchester United – who are looking to secure qualification for one of the European competitions. Mauricio Pochettino, Eddie Howe and Erik ten Hag, respectively, cannot be sure they’ll be in the same job next season.
What’s all but mathematically sure is that Luton is heading back to the second-tier Championship as the third relegated team. It will require a bizarre set of results to keep it up and send fourth-from-last Nottingham Forest down, meaning all three promoted clubs – Sheffield United, Burnley, Luton – will have lasted just one season in the league.
Most eyes, however, will be on the title race that has been tight but maybe not as absorbing as it could have been. That’s because City – a trophy-hoarding machine led by Pep Guardiola – has long made a habit of finishing seasons on long winning runs, taking the tension out of what otherwise would be nerve-racking run-ins.
Beating Tottenham 2-0 on Tuesday left City with a two-point lead over Arsenal and knowing a win over West Ham will seal a fourth successive title, a feat which hasn’t been achieved in England’s top division since league play began in the sport’s motherland in 1888.
City’s future is also somewhat up in the air, given a date has been set –…
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