Manchester City-Swansea City Preview
Manchester City are ending their season with a bang.
Manuel Pellegrini's side (22-7-7) have won four games on the bounce by an aggregate score of 12-2 and will be looking to continue their end of the season burst as they travel to Liberty Stadium to play Swansea City on Sunday.
The surge, though, is too little, too late for Pellegrini's former champions, who gave up their Premier League crown to Chelsea weeks ago after a limp title defence that saw them lost five more matches than Jose Mourinho's Blues.
Maybe it could have been different had Sergio Aguero been fit all season.
Aguero has played a starring role in City's run of positive results and scored a hat trick last time out in the 6-0 win over Queen's Park Rangers. The Argentine will finish the season as Premier League's top scorer barring a miraculous scoring streak from nearest rival Harry Kane despite struggling with injuries for much of the campaign, and Pellegrini believes that Aguero is only going to get better.
"I'm very happy in the way he's improving," Pellegrini said. "It's not the same Aguero as a year ago. He understands he must work harder, he's hit a lot more goals, he's working harder during the week and I think he'll keep improving. He's just 26 and must be a very important player in the future of this club.
"It's very important for him to be fit all season. But I don't think that because he was injured that we're not nearer Chelsea, there are a lot more reasons for that."
Sunday's hosts Swansea (16-8-12) are also on a high. Garry Monk's side beat third-placed Arsenal 1-0 last time out to make it three straight wins, and with 16 points from the last seven games, the Swans have dragged themselves into the hunt for Europa League qualification with two matches left.
It has been a remarkable season for Monk, who stepped into the Swansea role last season with no previous management experience, but it didn't stop Arsene Wenger criticising the Welsh side for their playing style in last Monday's game.
"If we didn't play, I'm not sure how we got the three points," Monk said. "I've played the so-called British-style, very physical, very fit. The high-tempo side of it, the put your foot in. Then when Roberto (Martinez) came into Swansea we were very much more the continental approach.
"I feel really privileged that I've experienced that. But I have still got real traditional values and I try and put them into the modern way of playing, which is the way we want to play, possession football. That will always be my number one - there is no better way of playing. But those traditional values come in when it is not working."
Swansea will go into Sunday's game with fitness concerns over Angel Rangel, Wayne Routledge, Kyle Naughton and Tom Carroll, while City have doubts over the fitness of Samir Nasri.
City won 2-1 when these teams met at the Etihad in November. Wilfried Bony scored for the visitors against the club he joined two months later.
Swansea have lost three straight to City.