The sight of Liverpool going into a midweek May game targeting a big win to put the pressure on Manchester City is not a new one.
Back in 2014, after suffering a painful defeat against Chelsea, Brendan Rodgers' Reds travelled to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace. Liverpool were level on points with league leaders City, but a 3-0 lead after 55 minutes had them hoping they might be able to bring goal difference back into the equation.
Of course, as we now know, three goals in the final 15 minutes earned Palace a sensational draw, and Rodgers' side had to settle for second place after their rivals won on the final day regardless. This year's situation is slightly different, with City going into the final day a point clear if Jurgen Klopp's Reds beat Southampton on Tuesday night.
The league leaders came from 2-0 down to take a point at West Ham on Sunday, so victory at Aston Villa on the final day would ensure Guardiola's men retain their title. However, Glen Johnson, one of the Liverpool starters against Palace back in 2014, doesn't expect his former side to fall into the same trap they did under Rodgers.
"First they have to try and win the game," Johnson told Mirror Football on behalf of 888sport. "They haven't got to try and score four or five goals - they'll probably be in control of the game as we know anyway, and if they get a positive result you just don't know what's going to happen elsewhere with other games, so I think all they're focusing on is getting three points and if they can nick a few goals back then it's a bonus.
"We started exactly the same [against Palace]. "We just thought [we need to] go out there and win the game and if we keep scoring we keep scoring. Obviously at the time when we were 3-0 up the game was so comfortable we had no reason to stop."
Joe Allen had given Liverpool a half-time lead, but two more early in the second half - a Damien Delaney own goal and a Luis Suarez strike - saw some begin talking about the goal difference situation. Instead of Liverpool adding to their tally, though, they let their opponents back into the game, with Delaney reducing the deficit before two late goals from substitute Dwight Gayle helped Palace achieve the unthinkable.
Suarez himself recognised the full-time whistle represented the end of Liverpool's title hopes, later telling The Mail he felt a "unique opportunity" had disappeared. "That hurt. That hurt so much," he said.
"We were so desperate to win it. I knew we had a unique opportunity and we were playing so well. It was that desire to get more goals against Crystal Palace that let them back into it and killed us."
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Steven Gerrard and Philippe Coutinho were involved for Liverpool back in 2014, and could yet have a part to play in this season's title race. Coutinho has completed a £17m move to Aston Villa, where Gerrard is manager, and the Villans take on Manchester City on the final weekend of the season.
Johnson is impressed with the work his former teammates are doing. However, he remains unconvinced that Villa will have enough to stop Guardiola's team in their tracks.
"Stevie took over, he's steadied the ship, got some good key players in, obviously got the players firing and got them out of the hell of a hole that they were in," Johnson added. "I think he's done a great job, the lads clearly like working with him, you can see that in their performances.
"Signing Coutinho is a genius stroke because you don't lose your ability overnight and he's a fantastic footballer. Coutinho doing what he's doing, I'm not surprised at all. If anyone asked me when he was at Barca, I'd say if anyone got the chance to sign him they should.
Despite the quality of Coutinho and the turnaround under Gerrard, he still expects City to get the job done. "To get that result against West Ham - obviously not the result they wanted but at 2-0 down they didn't look like they were going to get anything," he continued. "So I think that's a championship[-winning] side, teams that do that usually go on to win, so I can't imagine they'll let it slip from here."
Glen Johnson, was speaking on behalf of 888sport. Head to 888sport for the latest Premier League odds.
