Man City need to avoid fixture advantage backfiring in title race with Liverpool FC

When the fixtures were confirmed for this season, Manchester City's route to the Premier League trophy looked clear.

With a slow start to be expected anyway as a result of the Euros, the primary mission for the opening months of the season was limiting the damage on a number of tricky away fixtures; starting with a grim trip on the opening day, City's first six away games were Tottenham, Leicester, Chelsea, Liverpool, Brighton and United.

That is why much of the early giddiness around the title race was about Chelsea and Liverpool, but why anyone who had been paying attention knew that if City could hold onto the coattails of the early leaders then they could make up the difference as their schedule eased. So it proved, as the Blues picked up 13 points from a possible 18 before embarking on a winning run between November and January that had some lamenting their procession to victory.

Of course, those conclusions proved as premature as the noise around Chelsea and while many get excited again about the prospect of a shootout between City and Liverpool, it is worth remembering that very little will have changed inside the clubs since City's draw at Southampton or defeat to Tottenham; both are prepared to go all the way.

It is also worth stating that City are still comfortably the favourites. They have more points on the board, and have also got their most difficult fixtures on paper out of the way.

This team of strikerless finishers are anything but conventional though, and the danger is that the advantage given to them by playing key games at home isn't what it looks like. City have lost more games at the Etihad in the league this year than they have on the road, with more of a sense that they could have an off-day