Woke up this morning with a spring in my step - top of the league along with the little added bonus that our points tally officially ended Utd's reign as champions. Sweet upon sweet.
And then there were 5....
And next up is the big one. Yeah yeah, each game as they come, all games important, etc.... But this is the next game. The 2 teams left who still have their fate in their own hands.
That will have to change on Sunday.
Both teams come into this match on good form and brimming with confidence. While we've won our last 9 and are unbeaten in this calendar year in the league, City's form has been excellent too. They've won 7 of their last 10, drawn 2 and lost 1 (to Chelsea at home). They also battled to win against Hull, after having a man sent off. There is team spirit there, genuine belief that the title is theirs to lose and they have talent to boot.
We played them in December at a time when everyone was getting the shit beaten out of them at the Etihad, and for long periods of the game we ran rings around them. Many of us groaned as their first goal somehow went in, but it was the dodgy ref and linesman who did more damage. Sterling's disallowed goal, the Suarez penalty claim, along with the Sterling miss from the sublime ball from Suarez had us all ruing a missed opportunity. But we left Manchester with our heads held high - which can't be said for the other "top teams" who had visited there before us. Arsenal destroyed 6-3, United destroyed 4-1, Spurs destroyed 6-0. I thought we'd be in for a rough ride that day, and even though we lost, the way we played was a real eye-opener. Our fast, fluid play, our excellent link-up between midfield and strikers gave me hope for the first time this season that we could qualify for the Champions League. Well, as it turns out, I was right but not right enough!
Despite the supposed pressure we're going to wilt under, we should be optimistic going into this game. In December we started with:
Mignolet, Johnson, Skrtel, Sakho, Cissokho, Henderson, Allen, Lucas, Sterling, Suarez, Coutinho.
Gerrard was injured but is a sure thing to start. He's excelled in his new "quarter back" roll. You would also expect Flanno to start instead of Cissokho. Hopefully Allen will be fit and available for consideration, but we do have that little Brazilian Lucas back too. Or will BR go with Coutinho? And will Agger come back in for Sakho? Some "good" problems there for BR to figure out.
The game may also suit our fast attacking play better. It was noticeable that we struggled against Sunderland as they parked the bus. City won't do that. Against West Ham we struggled to break them down until they were chasing the game and pushed forward. Once a high line appeared, we looked far more dangerous. Suarez got through on goal twice - denied by Adrian's leg the first time, and hauled down the second.
Spurs came and tried to attack, pushing right up the pitch to pressurise us playing out from the back. We know what happened there. Man City will play attacking football but are admittedly a totally different prospect than Spurs. But with Demichelis, we may just have a weak point to expose. A foot race between him and any of SASAS would only have one outcome. You feel he's a penalty waiting to happen too. Win this because of a penalty and I think Blue Moon would go into fucking meltdown.
They should have Aguero back for this. Their midfield, particularly Toure and Silva will be key too. It's the scoring rate of both teams that have propelled both clubs to the top of the league. This could well be the game of the season.
All in all, play like we did in December and all things being equal, we should win. The crowd will be loud and proud and we've seen what kind of effect that can have on games. With the day that's in it, emotions will be running high at Anfield. It's somehow apt that LFC is playing the type of football again that was last witnessed by our fallen 96. Win lose or draw, make them proud.
Win this and we can stop believing and start knowing.
This is going to be a fucking big game. Buy shares in Andrex now - they're about to go through the roof.