Who: Manchester City vs Crystal Palace
What: English Premier League
Where: Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, United Kingdom
When: Wednesday, May 13, at 8pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the buildup on Al Jazeera Sport from 16:00 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.

Second-placed Manchester City kept themselves alive in the Premier League title race with their solid home win over Brentford on Saturday, but league-leading Arsenal’s controversial win at West Ham United the following day again pegged City behind in the two-team fight for the trophy.

Al Jazeera Sport previews City’s delayed Matchday 31 contest against Crystal Palace on Wednesday and breaks down the Sky Blues’ championship hopes as the season draws to a close.

Where does the Premier League title race stand?

• Frontrunners Arsenal are in a favourable title position on the Premier League ladder; they enjoy a five-point lead over Man City, with the Gunners having two matches remaining in the 38-round season.
• City have three games to go, including their home tie with Palace.

What happens if City win against Palace?

If City beat Palace on Wednesday, they will reduce the gap on league leaders Arsenal to two points. Both teams will then have two games remaining.

A victory against Palace would keep City alive in the title hunt, but they would need to beat Bournemouth in their penultimate match to continue the title fight to the final round of matches on May 24.

What happens if City draw or lose to Palace?

If City draw, they will end up four points behind Arsenal, and in the event of a defeat, the gap would remain at five points. Dropping any points against Palace would mean City all but bowing out of the title race, even if they still have a mathematical chance to contend heading into the penultimate round.

In such a scenario, Arsenal can be crowned Premier League champions as early as Monday, May 18. A win over already-relegated Burnley in Matchday 37 would mean Arsenal would be at least seven points clear, with City only having a maximum of six points available in their last two fixtures.

If the Gunners are crowned champions of England, it would mark the end of the North London club’s 22-year wait for the honour.

How does City’s and Arsenal’s run-in look?

After hosting Palace on Wednesday, City face sixth-placed Bournemouth on May 19 before facing fifth-placed Aston Villa in their final game of the season on May 24. Both fixtures will be challenging as City’s opponents will be fighting to secure European football qualification next season.

Arsenal, on the other hand, have a much easier run-in to the end of the season. They host already-relegated Burnley on May 18 and play away to Palace on the final day of the season. Palace will likely name a weaker side for that fixture, with their eyes certainly on their first European final: The Conference League final vs Rayo Vallecano on May 27.

Is the Premier League trophy Arsenal’s to lose?

Yes.

Arsenal’s dramatic win on Sunday against their London rivals, West Ham, means they already have one hand on the trophy. Should they win their final two matches of the campaign, they will be crowned champions, regardless of Man City’s results.

But any slip-up would allow their title rivals back in.

Opta’s supercomputer has given the Gunners an 87.2% chance of winning the title from hereon.

Can City and Arsenal end the season on equal points?

Yes, it is possible.

If City win all three remaining matches, and Arsenal draw one of their two games, both teams will end the season level on points.

What happens in this case? Rule C.17 of the Premier League Handbook says the final table placings would be determined by the following criteria, in this order:

• goal difference
• goals scored
• points won in head-to-head matches
• away goals scored in head-to-head matches
• a playoff match.

Currently, the goal difference between Arsenal and City is very close. Arsenal have a +42 goal difference, and City’s is +40. It could come down to goals scored across the season: City’s current tally is 72, Arsenal’s is 68.

If the clubs finish level on points, goal difference, and goals scored, City would claim the title on the next criterion – points won in head-to-head matches – because they have won four points against Arsenal this season, thanks to a win and a draw.

The odds of such a scenario are very low, given City are lagging in the title race, but if this were to happen, it would go down as the closest title race ever. The previous closest race was in 2011-12 when City edged their rivals, Manchester United, on goal difference following Sergio Aguero’s stoppage-time winner against Queens Park Rangers on the final day.

City still in the hunt for domestic double

While City’s odds of winning the league title are very slim, they remain on course to complete a domestic double. City, who won the League Cup in March, face Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday. They are bidding for their eighth FA Cup, having last lifted the trophy in 2023.

Manager Pep Guardiola has backed striker Omar Marmoush, who scored off the bench in the last game, to have a key role in the closing stages of the English season.

“We’ve talked many times,” said Guardiola. “I know it’s not easy for them [fringe players], but I’m pretty sure in the next games they’re going to play.

“I want to rotate the team because otherwise we cannot arrive in the final or Bournemouth a little bit (fresh).

“Especially Omar. It’s not easy because normally you just want one striker. He’s a proper striker but Erling (Haaland) is there.

“Erling is so important for us, but the contribution of Omar – the amount of goals for the minutes played – is so high.”

‘I love it’ – Pep Guardiola relishes title run-in

Guardiola said he is “loving” the Premier League run-in, despite his ⁠side no longer controlling ⁠their own fate in the title race.

“It’s ⁠not in our hands now,” Guardiola said. “They have to drop points. The only thing we can do is win again and see what happens.”

Guardiola said win or lose, the thrilling race to the finish has been thoroughly enjoyable.

He pointed to his team’s consistency, as their unbeaten run in the ‌league stretches back to mid-January. With another major final still to come, City have had plenty to celebrate this season, regardless of how the Premier League finishes.

“I love it. I love to be here again, we’ll finish second again in this season, minimum,” Guardiola said. “Last season, we were fighting to qualify for the Champions League, was so ⁠difficult.

“I love too Carabao (League Cup) in our pocket. We play an FA ⁠Cup final in Wembley, it is the most beautiful game of the season.”

What happened the last time City played Palace?

In their reverse fixture at Selhurst Park in December, City won 2-0, thanks to two goals from Haaland, including a penalty, and another by Phil Foden.

Head-to-head

Palace and City have faced each other in 75 games in all competitions since 1921.

City have won 40 of those encounters, while Palace won 18. A total of 17 matches ended in a draw.

Man City team news

Defenders Josko Gvardiol and Abdukodir Khusanov, along with defensive midfielder Rodri, are out injured.

Predicted Man City lineup

Gianluigi Donnarumma (goalkeeper); Matheus Nunes, Marc Guehi, Nathan Ake, Nico O’Reilly; Bernardo Silva, Tijjani Reijnders; Antoine Semenyo, Rayan Cherki, Jeremy Doku; Erling Haaland

Palace team news

Edward Nketiah, Cheick Oumar Doucoure, Evann Guessand and Borna Sosa are sidelined with injuries.

Predicted Palace lineup

Dean Henderson (goalkeeper); Chris Richards, Maxence Lacroix, Jaydee Canvot; Daniel Munoz, Adam Wharton, Daichi Kamada, Tyrick Mitchell; Brennan Johnson, Ismaila Sarr; Jorgen Strand Larsen

The United States-Israel war on Iran has disrupted global supplies of energy, fertilisers, medicines and even helium, devastating economies around the world.

Now it’s also threatening whales off the coast of South Africa.

Fighting involving the Houthis had already turned vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal since 2023. Now the rival restrictions on transit through the Strait of Hormuz, imposed by Iran and the US, have amplified that shift.

But the rising volume of shipping traffic near South Africa’s coast has “substantially increased” the risks of whales being struck, researchers have warned.

That’s according to a study presented this month at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which noted that South Africa’s southwestern coast is increasingly busy, affecting the area’s significant populations of whales.

Why have shipping routes shifted?

Traffic in the Red Sea area was initially disrupted back in November 2023, when Houthi rebels began targeting vessels sailing the area in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

More recently, the attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which is currently blocked by Iran, have also caused shipping companies to reroute vessels from the Middle East to go around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

The disruptions have almost doubled the traffic in the area. At least 89 commercial vessels sailed around Southern Africa between March 1 and April 24, according to the International Monetary Fund’s PortWatch Monitor. In the same period in 2023, there were only 44 vessels.

What are the whales that might be affected?

South Africa’s waters are home to more than 40 whale species. The Cape of Good Hope, the country’s southernmost tip, is known to host populations of southern right whales, humpback whales, and Bryde’s whales. There are also Orcas or killer whales, sperm whales, Minke whales, and dolphins in the area.

Large super-pods of humpback whales feed in the area and travel from there on an annual migration to Antarctica. Authorities say they are the largest groups of humpbacks known on Earth. Some studies put their total numbers at between 11,000 and 13,000.

Many species were threatened by commercial whaling in the 20th century. Although the southern right and humpback whales have recovered, others, such as the Antarctic Blue, Fin, and Sei whales, are still listed on the South African Red List as Endangered or Critically Endangered.

How are whales affected?

Whales are directly affected by the increased traffic, as it increases their chances of being struck by a moving vehicle.

“There have been videos of people on cargo vessels that were going through high densities of humpback whales,” researcher Els Vermeulen of the University of Pretoria told the AFP news agency.

Vermeulen, who led the study presented at the IWC meeting, said in such cases, whales are not often aware of the danger, and could be distracted by feeding.

“Obviously, their social media post was all about, ‘Wow, look how many nice whales we see,’” Vermeulen said. “My heart stopped – you know that they’re striking a couple of whales.” Fast traffic, which poses the greatest risks, has quadrupled, she added.

Whales don’t yet know how to adapt to ships, Chris Johnson, the global lead of the World Wildlife Fund’s Protecting Whales and Dolphins Initiative, said.

“You assume that, if you hear a loud noise, you leave. But that’s not the case with some species,” he said. For example, when Blue whales in Los Angeles hear a ship approaching, they just sink below the surface, he added.

Whales are also at risk because of their behavioural changes, which some experts have attributed to climate change and other factors. The humpbacks in South Africa, for example, only started feeding off the west coast, which is growing increasingly busy, in 2011, said Ken Findlay, a blue economy consultant who contributed to the report.

Has the risk of ships striking whales been growing?

It has, researchers say, because of increased human activity.

Vermeulen and her team had previously conducted a study on deaths among southern right whales (SRW) in the Western Cape Coast area back in November 2022, after observing increasing human activity in the area, such as fishing. They solely used data collated by government agencies.

The results, published in the IWC Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, found that between 1999 and 2019, there were 11 fatal ship strikes out of a total of 97 deaths. There were another 16 ship strikes that did not clearly lead to death.

While entanglement in fishing gear was the biggest cause of death, the researchers concluded that deaths from ship strikes are likely undercounted – whales hit by ships in the open seas often sink to the bottom of the ocean.

Can the whales be protected?

Some suggestions from the report presented by Vermeulen’s team to the whaling commission proposed that even small shifts of the traffic lanes away from the coast of South Africa could reduce the risk of strikes to some whale species by 20 to 50 percent.

Whale populations in other parts are also at risk and need protection.

One company, the Swiss-based MSC, has already begun re-directing its ships to protect critical whale habitats, notably around Greece (Hellenic Trench) to protect sperm whales and off Sri Lanka to protect blue whales.

Experts say measures like speed reduction programmes, which significantly lower the risk of lethal collisions and reduce underwater ocean noise, can help.

Researchers are similarly testing if ships could be alerted to the presence of whale super pods via radio messaging or specially-designed apps.

South Africa’s Environment Ministry told AFP that “all available solutions and mitigation measures will be examined” to protect the whales in the Cape of Good Hope.

“Once the scientific studies and assessments have been completed, the maritime authorities will be on the front line, alongside the (ministry) to chart the way forward,” it said.