Premier League offers Pep Guardiola a third chance at Man City glory

The publication of fixtures for the upcoming Premier League season last summer sparked the usual scramble to spot derbies and other big games for Manchester City, but little was made of Aston Villa at home on the final day. Who and where you play your final game is always random, and with the last three leagues being wrapped up before then there was no need for undue focus on it.

As the year has progressed, the narrative of the game has grown and grown until it has reached fever pitch with City's draw at West Ham. Providing Liverpool get something at Southampton on Tuesday, Jack Grealish has the chance to win the biggest trophy in English football against his boyhood club who pocketed £100m for him last summer.

Standing in his and City's way is Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard, the former Liverpool captain who was famously pictured shouting at his Liverpool teammates towards the end of the 2013/14 campaign that they must not let their grip on the title slip. Of course, as Premier League narrative dictates, he then went on to literally slip against Chelsea to allow Demba Ba to score at Anfield and, not long after, Manuel Pellegrini's City to win the title.

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Gerrard never managed to win the league in his distinguished career but can help his former club to do it now, although has spent much of the opening months of his time at Villa Park trying to distance himself from those that see him using the Midlands as a stepping stone to take over from Jurgen Klopp. As of last weekend, Villa also have permanently on their books Philippe Coutinho - one of Liverpool's best players from the 2013/14 season - whose sale to Barcelona unintentionally helped