Manchester City host Queens Park Rangers at the Etihad on Sunday in their first game since vacating the Premier League trophy.
Victory for QPR, meanwhile, would see the London club preserve their fading hopes that they can avoid relegation.
Manchester City
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Last week saw Manchester City officially surrender their Premier League title to Chelsea. Unofficially, it has been lost for a number of months now.
After watching City win three on the spin, manager Manuel Pellegrini is well within his rights to question why his charges failed to produce this form when it mattered.
Back-to-back defeats to Crystal Palace and Manchester United at the beginning of April effectively handed the title to their London rivals. Going down at Old Trafford represented their fourth loss since the start of March.
They have bounced back but their resurgence comes too late, to the point where the Sky Blues went into their 2-0 win over West Ham United knowing that it was all about a top-four finish for them.
Pellegrini's side then edged out Aston Villa 3-2, before beating Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 last weekend for their third successive win for the first time in 2015.
Inconsistency has forced them to endure a trophiless season, having won the league and Capital One Cup last time around, and the Chilean is thought to be on borrowed time.
Sunday's visit of QPR is the Citizens' penultimate home game of the season, and Pellegrini could be forgiven for believing that it represents one of the last times he will be in the home dugout.
It's a race for second place - currently occupied by City, on goal difference ahead of Arsenal - but things could have been a little different.
Recent form: WLLWWW
QPR
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Chris Ramsey need only glance at QPR's odds of being relegated to know that the game is more or less up.
At 1/100, the West Londoners are overwhelming favourites to become one of three teams to drop into the Championship following a trying return to the top flight this season.
Seven points from safety with only nine left on offer, defeat at City will confirm relegation for Rangers.
In truth, Ramsey, who took over from Harry Redknapp in February, has been fighting a losing battle in his brief tenure as manager.
QPR were outside the drop zone on goal difference when he took charge of a team that had lost all 11 of their away games.
The 53-year-old swiftly ended that hoodoo with a 2-0 win at Sunderland, but it was a mini victory in an otherwise dismal season. Only one win has followed - a 4-1 triumph at West Brom - and, unsurprisingly, relegation looms.
Eastlands was the location that saw QPR survive their relegation battle three years ago, but the odds are heavily stacked against them this time around.
Recent form: LWDLDL
Team News
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Stalwarts Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure are poised to return for City, with the latter potentially coming to the end of his fairytale at Eastlands.
Speculation is rife that the big Ivorian will reunite with former City manager Roberto Mancini at Inter Milan, having endured a testing second season under Pellegrini.
Elsewhere, a groin injury has ended Samir Nasri's season, while Ramsey says that he is down to the "bare bones" ahead of visiting Eastlands.
Steven Caulker, Clint Hill, Bobby Zamora and Mauricio Isla are all injury doubts, while Nedum Onuoha is sidelined through suspension.
Rio Ferdinand remains on compassionate leave following the death of his wife, Rebecca.
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Hart; Zabaleta, Demichelis, Kompany, Clichy; Fernadinho, Toure, Milner, Silva; Aguero, Dzeko
QPR possible starting lineup:
Green; Yun, Dunne, Furlong; Henry, Sandro, Barton, Phillips, Kranjcar; Fer; Austin
Head To Head
City have dominated this fixture since the turn of the millennium, winning three and drawing two of the last six meetings. Rangers' last win was a 3-1 Championship victory at Maine Road in 2000. Overall, the Manchester giants have won 23 of the last 38 clashes, losing just six of those.
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Hit play below to see what the Sports Mole Sofa had to say about this encounter:
We say: Manchester City 4-0 QPR
Even victory would likely delay the inevitable relegation for QPR, but we reckon that City will maintain their red-hot form with a convincing victory to send their London counterparts back to the Championship.
Shane Callaghan
