5.22pm BST

Good evening. Dedicated Clockwatch fans will remember that these two fixtures were meant to be played in February, only for the Guardian's intrepid Manchester reporter, Jamie Jackson, to force their postponement after he went feral and headbutted a programme stand outside the Etihad Stadium, his reign of terror only ending after a Man Conversation with Pep Guardiola the other week Mother Nature to intervene with high winds and torrential rain. Luckily it's April now and the weather outside is delightful rather than frightful, meaning there's no chance of more mischief occurring, unless Action Jackson nuts a hotdog stand.



Anyway with only two games from world's most exciting league to report on, there's probably no need for a long preamble. In fact, I could end it right here, right now, and nobody would bat an eyelid, not you, not me and not even the guys who pay me the medium-sized bucks for this drivel. But to hell with it, it's not as if you or I have anything better to do – protest all you want but the fact you've been caught reading this in the first place would provide conclusive evidence of your guilt in a court of law – and, as such, this preamble is going to go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on, until the time comes when you have lost the will to live and you're wondering why you aren't reading the Copa del Rey final like all the other self-respecting football hipsters, not that it really matters, because when it's all stripped down we're just passing time until the final series of Mad Men starts at 10pm. Your silence speaks volumes.



Still, it could be worse – at least we've got two hugely significant games on our hands this evening. Manchester City need a win to kickstart their title challenge after the agonising defeat to Liverpool at an emotionally-charged Anfield on Sunday. Sunderland need a win (they're not going to get a win, are they) to ensure Gus Poyet doesn't break into uncontrollable tears at 9.30pm, tears which will turn into uncontrollable rage once he remembers he forgot to record Mad Men. Everton need a win to maintain their push for the top four. And Crystal Palace need ... well, actually, they don't really need anything now that they're more or less safe. But - and the following point will explain why the Guardian won the Pulitzer Prize – a win sure would be nice!

For City, nothing but three points will do after the disappointment of Anfield. Trailing 2-0 after a traumatic first half, looked the more likely winners after David Silva found his touch in the second half, but ultimately lost after the mere presence of Martin Demichelis led to a Kompany Kalamity which allowed Phillipe Coutinho to win it for Liverpool. It means that City are now reliant on Liverpool dropping points if Manuel Pellegrini's first season in England is not to end in anti-climax.

City are a strange side in many ways. The easy trap to fall into would be to assume that theirs is a squad comprised of millionaire mercenaries with no real connection to the club, who would disappear into hiding when the going gets tough and count their money instead, laughing all the way to the bank, but more often than not, the opposite is true. As they proved by winning the title in such extraordinary fashion in 2012, City do not lack spirit, togetherness or characters for the biggest occasions and few sides are as exhilarating or intimidating when they get into their stride, as Liverpool discovered, almost to their cost. Perhaps, despite all that oil, City's problem is the exact opposite of a lack of identity. Perhaps their problem is that they are Manchester City and there's not enough money in the world for them to find a cure to fully eradicate the last vestiges of Cityitis. It might not be enough to make neutrals warm to them, but the manner of their defeat to Liverpool was Typical City.

Despite that, it is unlikely we'll be uttering that phrase tonight. City should thoroughly wallop Sunderland, who have completely unravelled since losing to Pellegrini's side in the League Cup final at the end of February. Poyet has been tearing his hair out in exasperation at Sunderland's inertia and, without wishing to be cruel, they increasingly feel like a club who could do with a relegation in order to get rid of the cobwebs. It's all grown very stale at Sunderland, constant managerial changes and an incoherent transfer strategy leading to them into this mess. They are bottom of the league, have not won since the start of February and there will be plenty of blame to go around if (when) they don't survive. This has been a commendable team effort, an acute demonstration of how not to run a football club.

At the other end of the scale, we have Everton, whose scrappy win over Sunderland on Saturday moved them closer to their first top-four finish since 2005. Those of us who always were huge Roger Espinoza and Jordi Gomez fans were already confirmed Roberto Martinez acolytes when he was at Wigan and weren't about to let the fact he got relegated at a club where he always had to sell his best players affect our opinion of a manager WHO WON THE FA CUP WITH WIGAN, but it has been great to see his ideas have such an invigorating effect on Everton, who have been far more attacking than they ever were under David Moyes. Everton have a difficult run-in, with games against both Manchester clubs to come, but we know Martinez well enough by now that they will not be fazed. But first, they've got to get past Tony Pulis's Palace. They're almost safe but - Pulitzer Prize-winning media organisation over here! – they could do with another win just to make sure!

Please be in your seats by: 7.45pm. We can't guarantee they won't be empty if you try to take them after 7.45pm! That's: 7.45pm!

