Man City face Leicester in the Premier League on Saturday in arguably the biggest fixture of the season so far.
The match, which is live on talkSPORT, will have serious implications on the title race, no matter what the result, with Liverpool no doubt keenly watching the outcome from Qatar.
The Reds are the runaway leaders with 49 points from just 17 games, having dropped only two points all season.
Leicester and City are their closest challengers with 39 and 35 points respectively but are still some way behind.
Here at talkSPORT.com, we have taken a look at how the match could affect each of the three teams.
The home team for the match on Saturday and their season could hinge on this result. They are already 14 points behind Liverpool and another defeat could spell the end of any hope of reclaiming their title for a third successive year.
City cannot afford to slip up between now and the end of the season and even a draw will feel like a disappointment, especially as they are at home.
Dropping points would have a deflating effect on the team and the fans and would then probably cause Pep Guardiola to throw all his energy into winning the Champions League.
A win may just give City the boost they need to go on a winning run to put some pressure on Liverpool like they did last season.
The 2018/19 season ended with a phenomenal 14 consecutive wins to snatch the title by one point.
In the penultimate game of the season, Vincent Kompany smashed in a 30-yard goal against Leicester to effectively hand them the title.
The inspirational captain is no longer with them, so who will step up this time?
Check out all the live commentaries coming up across our network this week…
Brendan Rodgers got Leicester playing well at the end of last season but no one could have expected them to be title contenders this season… again.
It is four seasons on since their 5,000-1 incredible Premier League winning season that defied the odds.
The Foxes are perhaps the team with the best hope of challenging Liverpool for the title at this moment in time.
A win against Man City would establish their credentials as contenders and close the gap on the Reds to seven points, with Liverpool not playing this weekend.
A defeat or draw would allow the Merseyside club the chance to increase their lead and could take some of the momentum out of their season.
Leicester play Liverpool at home on Boxing Day and lose both these two games then it could effectively end their title challenge.
A draw at the Etihad would be a good result but may not be enough to close the gap as it is difficult to see the current leaders losing at least three times in the second half of the season.
Leicester will though perhaps cast their minds back to that famous title-winning season and remember it was a 3-1 win at the Etihad which convinced even the biggest naysayers they could lift the Premier League trophy. Can they do the same again here?
Jurgen Klopp’s side are likely to be the biggest winners from this match while they play in the FIFA Club World Cup.
A draw will probably be the most ideal outcome as they will be nine points ahead of Leicester and 13 ahead of City with a game in hand. That game in hand is against West Ham, which was postponed because of the Club World Cup in Qatar.
A win for Leicester will effectively end Man City’s title challenge and that would also be a preferred result because of Guardiola’s side being able to go on an extended run to challenge them.
It remains to be seen if Leicester has what it takes to mount a challenge over the whole season and their draw with Norwich suggests they could fade away.
If Man City were to win then it would preserve Liverpool’s 10 point advantage before Christmas and also give them one game in hand.
They will then play Leicester on Boxing Day and be able to put them 13 points out of reach with a match to spare and it is unlikely they would be able to make up that advantage.
City would move to 11 points behind Liverpool with the victory, which would still be an enormous deficit to overturn.
Whatever the result, Jurgen Klopp’s side will ultimately be the winners as either one – or both challengers will see their chances ebb away.
Saturday is GameDay on talkSPORT as we bring you THREE live Premier League commentaries across our network, including Man City vs Leicester at 5.30pm