Manchester City round off an underwhelming league campaign at home to already-relegated Norwich City on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola’s side have failed to maintain their incredibly high standards this season, suffering nine league defeats – five more than their title-winning season of 2018/19 – as they failed to retain their Premier League crown.
Norwich’s relegation back to the Championship had looked an inevitability for some time, though their 4-0 humiliation at home to West Ham two weeks ago sealed their fate.
Both sides know they can’t improve on their current league position ahead of the last game of the season, though a win on the final day would at least see a disappointing campaign end on a positive note.
Here’s 90min’s preview of the upcoming clash.
How to Watch on TV
When is Kick Off? Sunday 26 July
What Time is Kick Off? 16:00 (BST)
Where is it Played? The Etihad Stadium
TV Channel/Live Stream? Sky Sports Red Button
Referee? Craig Pawson
Team News
The home side will yet again be without talismanic forward Sergio Aguero. The Argentinian's league season was ended after suffering an injury against Burnley and is a major doubt for the second leg of City's Champions League clash with Real Madrid in August.
Aguero aside, Guardiola can boast a near-fully fit squad, with backup goalkeeper Claudio Bravo the only other concern.
Daniel Farke has far more absentees to contend with. Both Emiliano Buendia and Josip Drmic are ruled out through suspension after the pair were sent off in the final home game of the season.
Meanwhile, Alex Tettey and Timm Klose are fresh injury doubts, with Grant Hanley, Sam Byram and Moritz Leitner still sidelined.
Predicted Lineups
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Cancelo; De Bruyne, Rodri, D Silva; B Silva, Jesus, Foden.
Norwich: Krul; Aarons, Godfrey, Zimmermann, Lewis; Stiepermann, McLean, Rupp, Hernandez, Cantwell; Pukki.
Recent Form
Since their shock defeat away at Southampton, City have been in superb league form, winning their last four games by an aggregate score of 16-1. However, defeat to Arsenal at Wembley in the midst of that run ended their hopes of retaining the FA Cup.
Norwich's form since the restart has been nothing short of woeful. Farke's men have lost every one of their nine games in all competitions, managing just one Premier League goal in the process.
However, the Canaries can take hope from their meeting with City earlier in the season, having inflicted their first defeat of the campaign on them in a 3-2 home win.
Manchester City
Watford 0-4 Manchester City (21/7)
Arsenal 2-0 Manchester City (18/7)
Manchester City 2-1 Bournemouth (15/7)
Brighton 0-5 Manchester City (11/7)
Manchester City 5-0 Newcastle United (08/7)
Norwich
Norwich 0-2 Burnley (18/7)
Chelsea 1-0 Norwich (14/7)
Norwich 0-4 West Ham (11/7)
Watford 2-1 Norwich (07/7)
Norwich 0-1 Brighton (04/7)
Prediction
One last time ?
— Manchester City (@ManCity) July 25, 2020
? #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re pic.twitter.com/INSO5bPtjQ
City have been far from their free-flowing best this season, though they've still produced a number of scintillating performances.
In what is widely expected to be David Silva's final game for the club as he draws the curtain on a sublime ten-year stay at the club, expect the Spanish magician to put on a show as he and his City teammates put an out-of-form Norwich side to the sword.
Prediction: Manchester City 3-0 Norwich
Source : 90min