It's hard for Liverpool fans to look at this weekend optimistically, it really is. There is still a real mathmatical chance that they can lift their first Premier League title on Sunday should West Ham manage to miraculously take 3 points at Eastlands. However, facing a sense of realism, Manchester City really should do the business, and that nightmare at Selhurst Park on Monday Night really does seem like it's going to be the kick in the teeth that was first felt at the final whistle 5 days back, as a draw will still hand the Blues the title on goal difference, assuming Rodgers' men defeat Newcastle this Sunday, at 3pm.
It all started 2 weeks back, where the Reds failed to breakthrough at home to Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, who stole a 0-2 victory at Anfield. The boys re-grouped and took a 3 goal lead at Crystal Palace 8 days later, but goals from Damien Delaney and Dwight Gayle (2) levelled the scores dramatically to leave Liverpool simply heartbroken, as the possibilty of the title slipped further.
But if there is any club, any group of players and any set of fans that will fight, support and believe to the very end, it's Liverpool Football Club.
As for team news for Sunday's meeting, the Reds welcome back midfielder Jordan Henderson for the final game of the season and is likely to move straight back into the starting XI after his red card against Manchester City 4 weeks back. He is likely to replace Lucas Leiva, or be left to the bench to allow Phillipe Coutniho, who this week unsurprisingly missed out on Scolari's Brazil World Cup squad, to start against Alan Pardew's men.
Newcastle are still without Papiss Demba Cisse and Luuk de Jong through injury, Hatem Ben Arfa's situation still remains unsolved, whilst Haidara could return.
This game hardly ever disappoints and always guarantees goals, so it is sure to be a good one, however you can't help but feel that Liverpool will ease to victory to put all the pressure on City, and see what happens. The Magpies won their last game against Cardiff, but before that were on a horrendous 5 game streak of defeats, and the mood still isn't great surrounding Tyneside at the minute. Ashley and Pardew aren't the most popular of beings, and the club as a whole will be wishing this season away in wait of a fresh start in August.
Liverpool have dropped points in their last two games, rather uncanny of them to be honest, but have picked up 13 out of 18 points in their last 6. Form suggests it should be comfortable, but you never know who the pressure could get to, and this spectacle can offer drama at any given moment.
Liverpool boss Rodgers gave his final press conference of the season and was very proud of his players.
"I want to congratulate my players on a remarkable season, they have put Liverpool on the world map again in terms of what we want to achieve at this club, and with their exceptional performance levels.
"Come Sunday, we will fight right till the very end. If we win the game and end up not winning the title, I think to finish second to the richest team in the history of sport really shows the measure of progress that we've made here."
"For us, this is only the beginning. I've had two years here, and we've been constantly improving."
"There's lot of talk about other teams improving next season, and we will also still dramatically improve - the process is continual for us.
"We have young players here who've had the experience of this campaign and will only bode them well for the future.
"We'll be looking to finish this season strongly and tick the box at the weekend. We know it will be a hard game but the combination with our supporters and the confidence as well as quality in our play has been fantastic. For us to get 16 wins out of 19 would pencil in a great return at home."
"We've had a really successful season,"
"We set the objective at the start of the season to reach the top four and everyone in the media at the beginning of the season predicted it would be a huge ask for us, so it's a big compliment that you guys now talk about us potentially winning the title.
"For that you have to give a huge amount of credit to the players, who have continually gone out and performed very well and we'll all grow from the experience of the last couple of months.
"It's my job to ensure that we are ready to fight again next season, and that's what we'll do."
